A bust of Seo Sang-don (1850-1913), a pioneering Catholic. (Photo: doitindaegu.com)
By Rock Ronald Rozario
Jul 2 2021
The philanthropist lived and spread the Catholic faith and restored national spirit and pride
A bust of Seo Sang-don greets visitors at the office of Daegu Archdiocese in Daegu, the third-largest city in South Korea and a Catholic stronghold.
Archbishop Thaddeus Cho Hwan-kil unveiled the bust in 2011 as part of activities to pay tribute to Seo ahead of the 100th anniversary of his death.
During the ceremony, the prelate hailed Seo as one of the pioneers who played crucial roles in the advent and growth of the Catholic Church in Daegu along with Bishop Florian Demange (1887-1938), a French missionary and the archdiocese’s first bishop.
When Seo died in Seoul on June 30, 1913, Bishop Demange attended his funeral and paid homage by calling him “a great fellow and extraordinary craftsman who remained an ordinary man despite being rich.”
“He served the Church and the Church also helped him. He accomplished a lot of good things. He donated the sites of Daegu Cathedral Church, bishop’s house, office, seminary and houses from missionaries. We should live up to his great virtues. We are very grateful to him,” Bishop Demange wrote in his diary, according to an article in Catholic Times by Andrew Lee Kyung-gyu, an emeritus professor at Daegu Catholic University.
The prelate recalled that when Seo was requested to help Daegu Diocese to grow and expand with land and financial support, he said: ““All my property belongs to God and the Blessed Mother. I intend to donate the money I have accumulated to the Church.”
He also helped Catholic missionaries and faithful facing brutal persecution and execution in Korea
Seo, whose Christian name was Augustine, is hailed as a national hero for his outstanding contribution to the national dept repayment that sought to restore pride and sovereignty after Japanese imperial rule.
His life and works (1850-1913) evolved around two missions — living and spreading the Catholic faith and restoring national spirit and pride.
Seo Sang-don was born on Oct. 17, 1850, to a Catholic family of martyrs that played a vital role in spreading the faith in Korea. His great-great-grandfather Seo Gwang-soo and his five sons embraced Catholicism in 1784 during the early years of Christianity in Korea.
Seo’s father died in 1859 when he was nine, so he grew up in his maternal grandfather’s house in Daegu with his mother and sister. As a child of the 1800s, he raised his pocket money by doing errands, fetching firewood and delivering groceries and other goods.
As he reached 18, with support from local Catholics and the Church, he prospered in agriculture as well as producing paper, linen and cotton products. He produced an annual average of 30,000 bags of rice, a huge sum in those days. By the age of 35, he had become a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist as well as a well-known figure in Daegu.
He also helped Catholic missionaries and faithful facing brutal persecution and execution in Korea.
In 1908, he established Seonglip School for boys and two years later opened another school with the same name for girls in what was a highly progressive move at that time. In 1906, he became involved with Daegu Gwangmunsa, an organization that sought to educate the Korean people and published textbooks, magazines and newspapers. He also joined the bubbling independence movement against Japanese rule.
Seo was extremely saddened when one of his uncles was mysteriously assassinated. The killing had both religious and political dimensions as his uncle was a devout Catholic and joined protests against a policy that allowed Japan to use all Korea’s ports. He was also a strong opponent of growing racism and persecution of Catholics under Japan’s imperial rule.
The situation worsened as Korea became a protectorate of Japan at the end of the Joseon dynasty’s rule (1392-1897) through the Korea-Japan Eulsa Treaty in 1905 following Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War that same year.
Japan’s extreme colonization and exploitation left Korea with huge debts. By 1906, Korea’s debt to Japan was estimated to be a whopping 13 million won.
The 13 million won national debt is a matter of life and death for our country
As the nationalist movement against Japanese rule started to sprout across Korea, activists like Seo felt the nation’s pride and sovereignty could only be restored if the debts were repaid.
“The 13 million won national debt is a matter of life and death for our country. If we pay it off, we will live. If not, the end of Korea is an inevitable consequence. We shall pay it off with the power of the people to protect our country and its sovereign rights,” Seo told hundreds of members of Daegu County Council as he encouraged them to join a national movement to repay the debt.
He became a prominent figure in the National Debt Redemption Movement. Joined by compatriot Kim Gwang-jae, Seo mobilized Koreans to contribute to the fund.
This voluntary movement with a nationalist tilt became widely popular. People from all walks of life — from farmers, monks and traders to hairdressers, woodcutters and beggars — all started to donate whatever they could.
There are popular legends that people quit smoking for months to donate to the fund and it even inspired Korean emperor Go Jong to give up smoking. “My people stopped smoking and are collecting money to repay the national debt, so I will not smoke anymore,” the emperor said.
Japanese rulers were suspicious and furious over the movement, which ultimately failed to collect 13 million won. But for the first time in Korean history, it succeeded in unifying Koreans based on patriotism and irrespective of socioeconomic status, gender, caste and creed.
As a believer, patriot and pioneer, he put into practice the spirit of responsibility and sharing
It also infused the thirst for independence among Koreans following Japan’s defeat to allied forces in World War II. However, national unity was dismantled as Japan left Korea divided between the south and north, triggering the Korean War.
Yet the National Debt Redemption Movement is considered a golden period in Korean history. In 2017, the movement was registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World.
In 2008, Seo’s house in Jung-gu of Daegu, where he lived and worked, became a museum that attracts many visitors.
The Foreign Debt Redemption Movement Memorial Hall in Daegu also enlivens the memory of Seo Sang-don and serves as a center of education and enlightenment.
Seo remains a national hero to Koreans and a pioneer of Daegu Archdiocese, a bastion of Catholicism in the southwestern Korean Peninsula with about 492,000 Catholics.
Professor Lee of Daegu Catholic University says Seo was a great example of faith personified. “As a believer, patriot and pioneer, he put into practice the spirit of responsibility and sharing. We are called to imitate his great deeds.” – UCANews
