⛪ Saint Peter Henricus Dorie - Martyr

Saint Peter Henricus,
Pray for us !

⛪ Saint of the Day : March 7

⛪ Other Names :

• Peter Henricus Dorie

⛪ Memorial :

• 7 March

• 20 September as one of the Martyrs of Korea

⛪ Born :

• 23 September 1839 in St-Hilaire-de-Talmont, Vendée, France

⛪ Died :

• Tortured, blinded by having quicklime thrown in his eyes, and then beheaded on 7 March 1866 on a beach beside the Han River in Saenamteo, Seoul, South Korea

Born in the village of Port, in Saint-Hilaire-de-Talmont (today Talmont-Saint-Hilaire), on September 23, 1839, Pierre-Henri Dorie made his first studies at the Sables d'Olonne minor seminary, whose professors gave from their pupil this appreciation: "ordinary dispositions, good spirit, good character, almost certain vocation". He entered the major seminary of Luçon in October 1860, then was admitted to the seminary of the Foreign Missions of Paris, August 13, 1862. He was ordained priest on May 21, 1864.

With great joy, he receives his assignment for the Korean Mission, land forbidden to foreigners. He goes there in secret, far from Seoul, after a long, exhausting and dangerous journey. It was May 26, 1865. Shortly after, he met in Seoul the Apostolic Vicar, Bishop Siméon Berneux, who assigned him to the village of Son-Kol, where he spent the eight months of his short life as a missionary.

The bloodiest persecution in Korea then breaks out, where many Koreans, nine out of twelve of the priests working in Korea, will be taken, tortured and beheaded. Pierre-Henri Dorie was arrested at Son-Kol on February 23, 1866. He was taken to Seoul and beheaded at the gates of the city on March 8, 1866, the same day as Mgr Berneux and Fathers Just de Bretonières and Louis Beaulieu.

St Henri Dorie, martyred priest in Korea - church of Lucs-sur-Boulogne

Beatified in Rome on October 6, 1968, he was one of the one hundred and three martyrs of Korea canonized in Seoul on May 6, 1984 by Pope John Paul II, on the occasion of the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Church of Korea.

Chamber of St Henri Dorie, at the time of his major seminary.

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