Devotion to St. Joseph in Korea

The reason Asian churches in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Thailand have a strong devotion to St. Joseph was the subject of an article in the Catholic Peace Weekly. 

The Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Joseph every March. St. Joseph's place in the Far East (East Asia and Southeast Asia) churches, including Korea, is especially important. This is because missionaries in the Far East entrusted their mission to Saint Joseph amid persecution, even 200 years before Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph as the guardian of the universal church in 1870. The reason why St. Joseph became a "guardian of the Far East" through the two-pronged decision made at the mission sites in the 17th century.

The first came from missionaries dispatched by the Pope from the Paris Outpost of the Paris Foreign Missionary Society Established between 1659 and 1660, they were vast areas that encompassed Vietnam, China, and Korea. Bishop Francois Palou and Bishop Ranveer de la Mott held their first synod in Ayutthaya, the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, in 1664, before entering and dedicating the mission to St. Joseph.

Bishop Pierre Lambert de la Motte (1624-1679).  along with Bishop François Pallou (1626-1684), founded the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP, for Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris). They are considered to be among the founders of the Church in Vietnam and candidates for canonization. 

As a result, the name of the first seminary, along with the cathedral built in Ayutthaya in 1665, became St. Joseph's Seminary (the birthplace of Malaysia's Penang Seminary). In 1855, the first seminary of the Korean church was also St. Joseph's Seminary, which inherited its name and spirit. The first synod held in Tonkin, Vietnam, in 1670, also established this tradition by stating that "St. Joseph is appointed as the patron saint of the kingdom in accordance with the Ayutthaya Charter."

Another branch started in 1668 at the place of exile in China. About 20 missionaries from various religious orders unanimously selected St. Joseph as the patron saint of missionary work in China after a 40-day meeting. This is because Joseph's silence, who fled to Egypt with baby Jesus and Mary to escape King Herod's blade, resembles the situation of the persecuted Chinese church.

On August 17, 1678, Pope Innocent XI proclaimed Saint Joseph the patron saint of China and neighboring countries (including Korea) at the request of the Far East's major superiors and missionaries.

The Korean church also inherited this trend and had a devotion to St. Joseph from the beginning. The same has been true since the Archdiocese of Beijing's independence in 1831. Pope Gregorio XVI stipulated that Saint Joseph be served as a co-guardian, even after the Blessed Mary became the new patron saint at the request of Bishop Saint Angbert, the 2nd Joseon Archdiocese, in 1841. This is also why the first Western-style cathedral built in Korea, in 1892, was dedicated to Saint Joseph.