Ch 14 - Western Contacts

The Way of the Cross

Without priests or missionaries to guide them, a small group of Sirhak scholars began practicing Catholicism totally unaware of the social implications of their actions. With no understanding of the inherent contradiction between Catholicism and Confucianism and its future implications, they set the foundation for the Catholic Church in Korea.

Although Western science and technology did not take immediate root in Choson, Western religion did. Unlike other East Asian nations, where Christianity was first introduced by European missionaries, Choson's introduction to Western religion developed from the intellectual curiosity of Confucian scholars and their desire to learn about Western civilization. The first among Choson's intellectuals to take an interest in the new religion were reform-minded Sirhak scholars of the Southerner faction. These yangban from a political opposition faction were already ideologically disaffected to a certain degree and held critical attitudes toward the contemporary influence of neo-Confucianism on Choson society. The Chinese translations of scientific books and Catholic literature brought to Seoul through tributary embassies to Beijing were published in China, written in Chinese, and already popular among China's intellectual community. Their deep Chinese connection made them acceptable subjects worthy of study.

Sirhak scholars such as Yi Su-gwang, Yu In-mong, Yi Ik and An Chong-bok defied empty formalism and ritual trivialities. The scholar Yoon Hyu criticized the formalism of Zhu Xi and stated that even neo-Confucianism might not deserve to be fellowed blindly without proper evaluation. They took an interest in Matteo Ricci's popular Catholic catechism, Tian zhu she i (Chonju-sirui, in Korean), "The True Doctrine of God." Yi Su-gwang took an interest in the new religion and made references to Ricci's writings in his book, Chibong-Yusol. and discussed it in many of their writings. Although few men showed any inclination toward a belief in Catholicism as they understood it and frequently criticised the doctrine, Sirhak's leading scholar, Chong Yag-yong, converted to Christianity.

Among the first recognizable groups of Catholic believers in Choson was a group of Southerner scholars who had retired from the political scene around 1694. The group, led by Yi Pyok, included Kwon Chol-sin, Kwon Il-sin, Yi Ka-hwan, Chong Yak-chon, Chong Yak-chong, Chong Yak-yong, Yi Sung-hun, and their friends and relatives. It was primarily a "self-study" group formed to read and discuss Western books on scientific knowledge and Catholic writings from China. The study group was not satisfied with mere study of Catholic books, but began to show interest in practicing the Catholic teachings. Their intellectual discussions led them to practice some simple teachings such as praying on every seventh day.

The decisive turning point for the group came in 1783, when Yi Pyok the group leader, commissioned Yi Sung-hun, the son of an ambassador to China, to visit the Catholic missionaries in China and absorb all he could about Catholic teachings. He said to Yi:

"... it is indeed fortunate for you to be able to go to Beijing, because this is a very rare opportunity, which God has granted to teach the true meaning of the holy teachings."

"This teaching is the only Way for saints and the wise. Because this is the teaching to serve the only God who is the Lord of all things and all powerful, the Westerners regard it to be the highest. Without this we are powerless. We cannot do anything, our hearts get unsettled and we cannot find out anything. the wisdom to rule the Kingdom, the standard by which man shall live, the creation of all things, the beginning and end of all things, the law that moves the cosmos, judgment of right and wrong, of good and bad, unity of body and spirit, the meaning of incarnation to save human sinners, glory and happiness in Heaven after death, condemnation and punishment in hell - all these things are determined by this teaching. It is the providence of God, in order to have mercy on our small nation and to save us, that you are able to go to Beijing.  As soon as you arrive in Beijing, you will visit the Catholic church to see Western missionaries and to inquire into all things to clarify the deep and true meaning of doctrines, to observe and learn the way to practice the Catholic doctrines, and bring all the books on the doctrines. For man to live or to die and to be happy eternally or unhappy - these great questions are dependent upon you. Therefore, do not act lightly and be careful."

After ariving in Beijing in the company of his father, Yi Sung-hun sought out the Franciscan priests, who were more than happy to instruct him in Catholicism. In February 1784, Friar Louis de Grammont baptized the twenty-seven-year-old yangban scholar into the Catholic faith and gave him the name Peter. Yi Sung-hun returned to his study group in Seoul with several books and articles on Christian doctrine and religious crucifixes given him in Beijing. He also returned a believer in Catholicism and a practitioner of the Catholic faith, which made a significant difference in the previously pure discussion group. Yi Pyok, the group leader, soon became an ardent follower of Catholicism and the Sirhak scholars began conducting regular Catholic services, performing the mass as best they could from the books they had read. Yi Pyok gathered friends from among both yangban and chungin to meet and worship every seven days. Through their numerous discussions of the newly found religion among friends and neighbors, Yi Pyok, Yi Sung-hun and the Sirhak scholars laid the foundation for the Catholic Church in Korea.

The group secretly met every week at the home of the chungin Kim Pom-u to avoid arousing the suspicion and hostility of the yangban community. Despite suspicions that their new religion and new way of life would draw them away from society, the group abandoned all "pagan" rites and began living a Christian life even though they did not have a priest among them. Remarkably, they also took on a number of priestly functions, including the sacrament of Baptism. They baptized each other, assumed baptized names and actively preached Catholicism among their close friends and relatives, instructing new converts in the catechism of Matteo Ricci. During Christianity's early life in Choson, it was not foreign missionaries, but the Koreans themselves who initiated and performed many functions of the church. While the intellectual community continued to study and debate sohak, or Western learning, as an abstract idea, the small Catholic community in Seoul began putting their new beliefs into practice, an act that had profound implications for the future.

As the group enlarged to nearly several dozen members, it became difficult to keep the meetings secret. In the spring of 1785, just one year after Yi Sung-hun returned from Beijing, local officials uncovered the group's activities. Kim Pom-u was arrested, severely torutured and exiled. He died two years later. The incident triggered a great deal of antagonism among conservative yangban like Yi Yong-so of Songgyun-gwan, the Confucian College, and Yu Ha-wan, an official who argued for active persecution of anyone associated with Catholicism. Kim Pom-u's exile fueled a firestorm of controversy that shook Choson's infant Catholic community, but did not destroy it. Catholicism was no longer the subject of scholarly debate, but the object of active faith where religious beliefs and ritual and symbolic practices began to matter a great deal to its followers.

Initially, the Yi government considered sohak to be little more than a preoccupation of foolish and ignorant people and did not interfere with the spreading interest in Catholicism. The Catholic doctrine of original sin, so unlike the dominant orthodoxy of Neo-Confucianism, evoked a warm response from many out-of-power scholars critical of the social ills brought on by the oppression of the weak and the unbridled pursuit of personal gain. It was especially well-received by yangban of the defeated Southerner faction. Searching for ways to improve the dismal conditions surrounding them, sohak gave many disenfranchised scholars a fresh hope for creating a heavenly kingdom on earth. As Catholicism began to make inroads among the yangban and people became encouraged to accept it as an alternative to traditional beliefs, the Yi government began to take a closer look at this "foreign cult." They did not like what they saw.

Most of Choson's intellectuals and government officials were totally against the new religion based on their belief that elements of Christian doctrine conflicted with the basic ethical and ritual principles of Confucianism. Confucianists attacked Catholicism from many perspectives, all of which were firmly rooted in neo-Confucian orthodoxy. They condemned sohak as a heterodox religion just as they considered Buddhism, Mozi, Zhangzi, Yangzi, and the White Lotus sect to be heterodoxy. The root of this criticism lay in the Catholic belief that this life is merely a preparation for the after life, and that worldly power, position and possessions are unworthy ends to pursue, a doctrine that seemed to subvert the very ideals of Confucian society and of the relationships between individuals. Confucian critics recognized that positioning Chonju, the Lord of Heaven, as a creator separate and distinct from his creation was far different from the Confucian metaphysical and moral social order of Sangje, the Confucian term for Heaven. The ultimate authority for Confucians can be channeled only through Confucian order, so if it were ever accepted that Chonju had greater authority than Sangje, which was the foundation of that order, it would subvert the established system of Confucian orthodoxy and shake the very foundations of Choson society.

The Confucianist's second great issue with sohak involved the doctrine of Jesus Christ and the matter of incarnation. With no understanding of Jesus as a messianic savior, Confucianists found it inconceivable that Jesus could come down from Heaven to become man, then die, then rise to become "the Great Parent of All things and All people." The doctrine of "Heaven and Hell," which the Confucianists understood in the moral terms of reward and punishment, was no different than Buddhism's heaven and hell and they considered Buddhism to be a heterodoxy. They felt that moral conduct was not motivated by purity, but man's selfishness. Throughly grounded in this world, they could not accept the concept of some other future world.

The most explosive criticism of sohak had to do with the issue of ancestral rites, the Confucian expression of filial piety, an axial value in Confucianism. The great debate over the conduct of ancestral rites in China that started in 1643 was finally settled by 1742. Papal Edicts prohibited any compromise on the matter of ancestral sacrifice, which the Holy See viewed as a superstitious ritual incompatible with a belief in Christianity, and required the destruction of ancestral tablets. By 1773, the Jesuit's mission policies in China had been dismantled along with their headquarters in Beijing. The Jesuits' accomodating work was gradually overshadowed by the rigid policies of the Franciscans and Dominicans, a transition that ultimately set Catholicism on a collision course with Confucian officialdom. In Choson, the papal rulings brought the challenge of Catholicism to the surface, where it was seen as a frontal attack against the central value of Confucianism. That was thus taken as a direct challenge to the Confucian moral and social order, the oligarchic structure of Choson's yangban society, and the intellectual rigidity of Neo-Confucian beliefs.

The further development of the Catholic community in Choson meant an increasing subversion of the Confucian order which the government believed only confused people and led them astray. Fearful of the consequences if this new religion were allowed to prosper, the government felt obligated to take action. In 1785, King Chongjo officially declared sohak to be a heterodox teaching and banned the practice of Catholicism. The following year, he prohibited the importation of books of any kind from Beijing and warned his envoys to the Qing capital not to visit any Catholic church. The proscriptions against Catholicism were not altogether effective however, because until this time, the small Catholic community had been little more than a loose fellowship of believers without a hierarchy or internal discipline. By 1787, the community appointed bishops and priests from among the faithful and performed religious rituals and ceremonies such as mass, baptism, confessions, etc..

The nature of the religious conflict in Choson and its potential for real trouble was aptly demonstrated in a single incident that occurred in 1791. For years, the Franciscans taught new converts to view Confucian ancestral rites as pagan superstitions, a lesson that soon led to the direct violation of rites central to Confucianism. Yun Chi-chung, a relative of Chong Yak-yong, had been baptized in Seoul in 1787, and, despite royal orders to the contrary, visited the Catholic Church in Beijing in 1789. When his mother died in 1791, he and his brother-in-law, Kwon Sang-yon, both yangban living in Chinan, North Cholla Province, performed the traditional Confucian rites for the dead. They also burned his mother's ancestral tablet and did not offer a sacrifice to her according to Confucian teachings. Yun and Kwon's actions were well known to their non-Catholic relatives and other people in Chinan.

The Confucian scholar Hong Na-gan, a former friend of Yi Pyok and Yi Sung-hun and a disciple of An Chong-bok, wrote an accusing note about the funeral to Minister Chae Che-gong, a Namin faction leader, that condemned Catholicism as heterodoxy religion from the Confucian orthodox point of view and demanded a thorough investigation. To their horror, the authorities discovered that Yun had earlier burned all his ancestral tablets because Catholicism taught that worshipping them was idolatry. In a country that considered respect for one's parents analogous to loyalty to the king, Yun's behavior amounted to nothing less than a total rejection of the entire Confucian system.

Yun and Kwon argued apologetically that Catholicism was not a violation of Confucianism in its essence and spirit and expressed their belief that Catholic teachings respected filial piety and that ancestral tablets and ancestral sacrifice were only external things, not central to Confucianism. Choson's small Catholic community wanted to be Catholic believers without giving up Confucian orthodoxy. They were totally unaware of the social implications of their practice of Catholicism and had no understanding of the inherent, mutually exclusive contradiction between Catholicism and Confucianism. At this early stage in its existence, Choson's Catholic community had no historical role in society except as it held the potential for growth.

This "Catholic attack" on ancestral rites, a cornerstone of Confucian orthodoxy, was never meant as an attack against Confucian orthodoxy. Nevertheless, Confucian officialdom quickly realized that Catholicism was, in fact, different from Confucianism, and viewed the breach of ancestral rites as a very serious matter. After repeated warnings from Confucian scholars about the inherent danger in sohak, Yun Chi-chung, Kwon Sang-yon and all the relatives who assisted in the Catholic funeral were found guilty of breaching the cardinal Confucian virtue of filial piety and committing a crime against the family and the government. They were all exposed for their crimes and immediately arrested and executed. Yun Chi-chung and Kwon Sang-yon set off the first tangible manifestation of the contradtiction between Confucianism and Catholicism in Choson. The incident prompted the suppression of Catholicism on ritual grounds and fueled a new round of factional struggles.

The Pyokp'a faction, supported by Dowager Queen Kim, attacked the Sip'a faction and the Southerner faction for their association with Catholicism and Western learning. A number of officials were sent into exile, and many Christian converts were turned over to the authorities and executed. Compared with past disputes however, there were no major persecutions and the incident passed with relative calm. A tacit tolerance of Catholicism followed, and no further severe religious persecutions occurred during King Chongjo's reign. Nevertheless, new lines had been drawn.

Unsatisfied with their limited knowledge of Catholic rituals, and seeking to preserve their small religious community, Choson Christians sent letters to the Franciscan Bishop of Beijing, Friar Alexandre de Gouveia, requesting a priest be sent to Choson so they could properly receive the seven rituals. The letters, carried by a person accompanying the diplomatic mission to China in 1794, also contained a number of controversial questions concerning ancestral worship and other superstitions which needed answers from the Church. Bishop de Gouveia responded quickly and dispatched the Chinese priest Father Zhou Wenmo to Seoul. In the face of a ban on foreigners entering the kingdom, Father Chou crossed the frozen Yalu River one night in the winter of 1794 with a small group of Choson Christians to guide him.

Father Zhou Wenmo, a member of the first graduating class of the Roman Catholic Beijing Theological Seminary, was the first ordained priest to enter Choson. Fortunately, he reached Seoul in early 1795, a time when the mood of the government was one of reconciliation. Several members of the Southerner faction held government posts and, since many Southerners were strong sohak adherents, Father Chou was left alone for the time being. The government ban on Catholicism made his work difficult and his presence was reported to authorities within a few months of his arrival. He avoided arrest and lived the majority of the next six years hidden in the home of a Catholic convert. Father Chou carefully traveled throughout the city and even spent time in Chungchong and Cholla provinces, preaching and converting people in spite of the government ban. He met with sohak scholars and even managed to convert two ladies of the royal household. Before long, Father Chou's efforts revived the religious fortunes of Catholicism in Choson. Within five years of his arrival in Seoul, the total number of Catholics in Choson grew from an estimated 3,000 to nearly 10,000.

As the eighteenth century came to a close, so too did another brilliant period in the history of the Yi dynasty. The successive reigns of kings Yongjo and Chongjo constituted a time when great achievements and creative pursuits dominated the culture. Jointly ruled by a weak monarchy and a strong aristocracy, Choson society was simultaneously clinging to its past and groping for its future. The rigidly structured neo-Confucian society confronted new ideas and the science of the Western world while it struggled with the implications of a new and seemingly heretical religion attempting to take root in its midst. In the process, Choson's seclusion acquired the sanctity of a tradition that could not be easily discarded. The virulent factional struggles that had so debilitated the Yi government from the late sixteenth century had become a senseless tragedy that critically weakened the kingdom just when a new and unprecedented challenge appeared on the horizon.