History book pits 2 Korean Catholic martyrs against each other

The Korean Peninsula's Catholic history is surprisingly fascinating, even if you're a nonbeliever — like I am. Its history traces back to the 1700s, midway through the 1390-1910 Joseon Dynasty, an isolationist state. Rather than arriving via foreign missionaries, Catholicism was brought to the country by Koreans who discovered it while abroad in China.

As it spread throughout Korea, the government tried to stop its expansion, leading to persecution resulting in somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 deaths. This horrific history also led to an unusually high number of saints, with 103 martyred Korean Catholics officially canonized by the Church in 1984. A new book by Brothers Anthony and Han-Yol of the French ecumenical community of Taize analyzes the lives of two early Korean Catholic figures: Saint Andrew Kim Dae-geon and Ven.

Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop. Titled "Martyr of Blood, Martyr of Sweat," the book presents annotated letters by the two figures, both born in 1821. Most of the correspondence is being published in English translation for the first time, with the letters previously