The Last Letter of Bishop St. Daveluy Released

The last letter of Bishop St. Antoine Daveluy written just before his martyrdom was released to the public. Dr. Cha Ki-jin from the Yangeup Research Institute for Korean Church History made the letter public after the Mass commemorating the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the Research Institute on December 3, 2009 in Baithi Martyrs' Shrine.

This letter is supposed to be written just after March 11, 1866 when Bishop Daveluy was arrested and to be transmitted secretly to the Catholics of that time. Beginning with the words "Dearest brothers", this letter of three pages written in Korean is composed of Bishop Daveluy's teaching addressed to the faithful of that time, exhorting them to follow Christ and practice his words faithfully to be his true disciples. In the letter, Bishop expresses his love for Korean Catholics saying, "After I depart, try to receive the words of Our Lord with good will and practice them with wisdom. Though I depart, I will always think of you, miss you, pray for you and take care of your spiritual goodness." He also encourages them, saying "Do not be afraid and discouraged in difficult times and rely only on the help of the Lord, not on human power. God knows that you are suffering for Him. Therefore, wait for His mercy." He concludes his letter, exhorting, "Unite with each other; manifest the virtue of love for the Lord and human beings; love your enemies and pray for their conversion; forgive your persecutors following your Lord. Doing so, you can be true disciples of Jesus."

Bishop Antoine Daveluy was born in Amiens, France in 1817, ordained a priest in 1841 and entered the Paris Foreign Missions Society in 1843 to be a missionary. He came to Korea in 1845 and devoted himself to the pastoral care of Korean Catholics for 21 years until he was martyred in 1866. He was the 5th Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Korea and canonized in 1984 along with other 102 Korean martyrs.