St. Just de Bretenières, Martyr of Korea

Who was St. Just de Bretenières?

St. Just de Bretenières was a young French missionary priest who gave his life for Christ in Korea in 1866, less than a year after he reached the country. Born Simon-Marie-Antoine-Just Ranfer de Bretenières at Chalon-sur-Saône on February 28, 1838, into a well-to-do family of Dijon, he joined the Paris Foreign Missions, crossed half the world, and was beheaded at Saenamteo, near Seoul, on March 8, 1866. He was twenty-eight. The Church canonized him in 1984 with the 103 martyrs of Korea, and we honor him with them on September 20.

From Burgundy to the Rue du Bac

Just began his studies for the priesthood at the Sulpician seminary at Issy, near Paris. On July 25, 1861, already tonsured, he entered the seminary of the Paris Foreign Missions on the Rue du Bac, the house that trained priests for Asia and had already sent many of them to martyrdom. He was ordained a priest on May 21, 1864.

On July 15, 1864, he left for Korea. Before departing, the young missionaries of the society went through a farewell ceremony in the seminary chapel, in which the community knelt to kiss their feet, the feet of those who bring good news. Charles de Coubertin painted that scene four years later.

Into a closed country

Korea was then closed to foreigners, and Christianity was forbidden there. Missionaries had to enter in secret. Just waited through the winter in Manchuria, at the mission station of Yang-kouan, then set out in April 1865 and slipped into Korea on May 27. He soon reached Seoul and the house of his bishop, Siméon Berneux.

Like the other French priests, he lived hidden among Korean Christians, studied the language and went out mostly by night. Foreign priests in Korea commonly disguised themselves in the large hooded mourning clothes of Korean men, which covered the face. In a few months he could begin to hear confessions and teach.

Arrest and martyrdom

Early in 1866 the regent of Korea turned against the Christians, and the great persecution began. Bishop Berneux was seized first. Just was arrested in Seoul on February 25 "as a preacher of the Gospel" and taken to prison, where he found his bishop and two other young priests of his society, Louis Beaulieu and Henri Dorie. They were interrogated and tortured.

Just still spoke little Korean. When the judges questioned him, the archives of his society record his answer: "I came to Korea to save souls; I will die for God with joy." (Our translation of: « Je suis venu en Corée pour sauver les âmes, je mourrai pour Dieu avec plaisir. »)

On March 8, 1866, the four were carried to Saenamteo, a sandy riverbank by the Han River outside Seoul used for military executions, and beheaded there, Bishop Berneux first. Their bodies lay exposed for three days and were then buried in the sand.

His body comes home

In August 1866 Korean Christians secretly buried the martyrs on a hillside near Seoul. On October 30, 1899, the remains were exhumed and identified, and on September 10, 1900, they were placed in the crypt of the cathedral of Seoul. In 1911 Just's body was brought back to France at his family's request, and on November 9, 1911, it was laid in the family vault beneath the Chapel of St. Simon in the parish church of Bretenière, near Dijon. The next year the Archbishop of Quebec gave the name Saint-Just-de-Bretenières to a new parish in his diocese.

He was beatified with the other martyrs of 1866 on October 6, 1968, and canonized by St. John Paul II in Seoul on May 6, 1984, with St. Andrew Kim Taegon, St. Paul Chong Hasang and the other Korean martyrs. Saenamteo, the place of his death, is now a shrine of the Korean martyrs. The Church honors him for his martyrdom; the sources we consulted record no approved or reported miracles through his intercession.

Symbols of St. Just de Bretenières in art

As a modern martyr, Just is usually shown as a young priest in the black cassock of a missionary, holding the palm of martyrdom and sometimes a crucifix. The sword recalls his beheading. In group images of the 103 Korean martyrs, look for him among the French priests in black, near Bishop Berneux. The archives of his society record 19th-century painted portraits of him at the Paris Foreign Missions seminary and at the family's château, and Coubertin's painting of the missionaries' departure is the best-known early image connected with him.

Feast day and prayer

We celebrate St. Just de Bretenières on September 20 with all the Korean martyrs, and remember him on March 8, the day of his death. The Collect of the September 20 Mass is the Church's own prayer for these martyrs. Let us ask St. Just to pray for missionaries, for young priests far from home, for the Church in Korea, and for Christians who still risk their lives for the faith. St. Just de Bretenières, pray for us.