Faced with the choice between death and denouncing the Vatican, the United States, and the United Nations, Bishop Patrick J. Byrne was resolute as he answered the North Korean judge: “There remains only one course — that I die.” Captured in Seoul in the summer of 1950, having refused to leave his flock following the outbreak of the Korean War, Bishop Byrne was taken as a prisoner to Pyongyang. Upon his arrival, another prisoner described the U.S.-born bishop, who had been named apostolic delegate to Korea a year earlier, as “half dead.”
Months passed before Bishop Byrne succumbed to pneumonia, after enduring a 110-mile death march from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8. As a particularly hot summer gave way to an early winter, the 62-year-old Maryknoll missionary and his fellow underdressed captives were marched in freezing conditions under constant threat of exhaustion or execution. Before he died on Nov. 15, Bishop Byrne told his companions, “After the privilege of my priesthood, I regard this privilege of having suffered for Christ with all of you as the greatest of my life.”
He is among 81 Korean War martyrs — including two other U.S.-born priests — whose cause for canonization was advanced by South Korea’s bishops in 2022. These Servants of God are considered “modern martyrs” because their collective ordeal followed waves of persecution a century earlier, when an estimated 10,000 Catholics in Korea were put to death for their faith. Among the latter are 103 saints and 124 blesseds recognized by the Church.
The witness of these martyrs has been a wellspring of strength and inspiration for the Knights of Columbus in South Korea. In 2007, the Order established its first of three military councils in the country; in 2014, the first of eight local councils was chartered: St. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn Council 16000 in Seoul — named for Korea’s first priest, who himself was martyred in 1846.
The fact that three of the 81 modern martyrs of Korea were born in the United States underscores the international character of the Church’s mission. It also lends spiritual depth to the bond of brotherhood between Knights of both countries — a bond seen especially in the collaboration between Korean Knights and their American confreres stationed at military bases.
“The spiritual fellowship and joint volunteer activities of Korean and American brothers are creating a strong synergy,” said Territorial Deputy Shin Kyoung-soo, a retired major general of the Republic of Korea Army. “If we continue to go out and help the poor and suffering, I think that’s a way to spread the Catholic faith and to practice love, the greatest commandment of our Lord. Just as the martyrs of Korea gave their lives for Christ, Knights are reminded to put faith into action, even when it requires perseverance and personal sacrifice, in service to God, the Church and our neighbor.”
ECHOES OF COURAGE
Maryknoll Father Gerard E. Hammond, a longtime Knight and military council chaplain who recently turned 92, recalled praying to Bishop Byrne for intercession when he was sent to South Korea in 1960 — shortly after his ordination — to continue the mission Byrne had begun.
“I prayed, frankly speaking, that I would be like him as best I could,” Father Hammond said.
Despite the division of the Korean Peninsula, Father Hammond has made 62 visits to North Korea, bringing aid to hospital patients suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. In a country where religious freedom is severely restricted, his quiet but persistent mission of evangelizing through charity speaks volumes. In 2017, he received the Order’s highest honor, the Gaudium et Spes Award, for his witness.
Father Hammond’s experience suggests that the legacy of the martyrs who labored and died in the North remains alive — even if hidden.
“Someday, the Church will be flourishing in North Korea,” he affirmed. “There were moments when I sensed the hospital patients knew more than they could say. ‘Father, help me,’ they would say. And when they were cured, I would be asked to speak to them. I thought it was almost a contradiction, allowing a Catholic priest to speak to them in a public place. I said, ‘Go back to your villages, love your family, and always remember this.’”
The other U.S.-born martyrs of Korea are, like Bishop Byrne, remembered for their extraordinary courage in the face of terror. Both were Columban missionaries — Msgr. Patrick Brennan (1901-1950) and Father James Maginn (1911-1950) — and both were executed by North Korean forces in the early weeks of the war.
Msgr. Brennan, born in Chicago, was ordained in 1928 and joined the Missionary Society of St. Columban in 1936. Assigned to Korea two years later, he was interned by the Japanese after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. After returning to the United States, he served as an Army chaplain in Normandy and took part in the D-Day landings, earning him the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest honor for non-combatants. Finally, he returned to Korea in 1946 and was appointed apostolic prefect of Gwangju two years later. “I never got such a shock in all my life,” Msgr. Brennan wrote. “The German 88s were like toy pistols compared with the news in the cable from Rome.”
When North Korean forces swept into the region in 1950, Msgr. Brennan chose to remain in Gwangju. He and two fellow Columbans were arrested that August and were threatened with execution unless they revealed the names of their parishioners. Upon their refusal, they were interrogated and imprisoned in a monastery. When U.N. forces advanced, the North Koreans massacred the prisoners on Sept. 24 and threw some 600 bodies into a well. Though Msgr. Brennan’s remains were never identified, bones from the well were later removed and cremated.
Father James Maginn, meanwhile, was stationed in a parish on South Korea’s east coast when the war began. Born in Butte, Montana, he had moved to Ireland with his family in 1921, at age 10, and later joined the Columbans as a seminarian. Declining any opportunity to leave his parish in Korea, he gave money to others so they might escape. “I shall remain here and defend the Church until death,” he said. “I shall bear witness to God to the Communists who deny Jesus Christ.”
At the start of July 1950, North Korean soldiers entered his village. A teacher whom Father Maginn had baptized later recalled that the priest remained calm and composed. He was tortured for days in an attempt to coerce him into confessing that he was an American spy. On July 4, before being taken barefoot up a mountain road, the 38-year-old priest offered a final blessing to the teacher in the next cell. Gunshots were heard, and villagers found and buried his body the next day.
SEEDS OF RENEWAL
In 2022, South Korea’s bishops formally moved to seek the canonization of the 81 Servants of God martyred during the Korean War as “witnesses of modern and contemporary faith.” That recognition affirmed the mission long upheld by Knights on the Korean Peninsula.
While it is impossible to verify to what extent Christianity is practiced in the North today, the fruits of martyrdom are evident in the vibrant Church of the South, where more than 11% of the population is Catholic and roughly one-third identifies as Christian. “We are rewarded by their suffering in South Korea,” Father Hammond noted. “The people are very faithful.”
Another Knight inspired by this legacy is Matthew Hong Sung-tae, a direct descendant of St. Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, a Korean layman martyred for the faith in 1839. Hong is a member of Council 16178 in Seoul, which was chartered in 2015 and named in honor of his saintly ancestor.
“During the Korean War, the North Korean military persecuted the Church because of our God-centered values,” Hong said. “But our shepherds would not yield, and the U.S.-born martyrs’ refusal to evacuate was a testament to their profound service to the Korean people. The spirit of service — even willing to lay down one’s life — was exemplified by those who preceded us in this land of Korea.”
This spirit continues to animate the Order’s mission today. In addition to longstanding pro-life activities in a country where abortion remains a legal gray area, Knights in South Korea are working to support vulnerable migrant workers.
South Korea’s birth rate is the lowest in the world, and the population would have declined in 2024 were it not for immigration. That year, the number of foreign residents rose 5.6%, reaching more than 2 million — a record high. This demographic shift has brought new urgency to calls for inclusion, especially as foreign workers sometimes face exploitation in roles that many Koreans view as undesirable or dangerous.
“Recently, the Korean Knights have been inviting Catholics who have settled in Korea from around the world — such as the Philippines and France — to join the Order,” said Territorial Deputy Shin. “In addition, we have formed an international roundtable in Seoul with plans to soon launch an international council, which is expected to lead pro-life activities and play a significant role in supporting many migrants.”
Working with parish priests across South Korea to establish new councils, the Knights are striving to have a presence in all of the country’s 16 dioceses. Their evangelization efforts complement the growth of the Church throughout South Korea, where a nearly 14% increase in baptisms was recorded last year.
Though Korea has endured times of darkness, such darkness has not overcome the light. The witness of the martyrs — those who lived and died in the land and those who came from abroad to serve it — continues to inspire the mission of Knights today.
As Hong put it, “A true Knight is not afraid of battle, nor is he afraid to sacrifice his life to protect values more precious than life itself.”