Pilgrimmage

On Saturday I went on a pilgrimmage to Onong with the Catholic parish of Sogang University. The site itself is interesting. The father of a martyr named Paul Yun Yuil as well as some of his other relatives are buried there. Some of the relatives were also martyrs I think. What is curious is that the main martyr, Paul Yun Yuil has a tomb there but his body isn't in! There are a few other martyrs there who have bodiless tombs. Paul, and two others were beaten to death to find out where the Chinese Catholic priest who had come to minister to the Catholics was hidden. Paul had actually dressed himself up as the priest and spoke in Chinese and allowed himself to be arrested so that the priest would have time to escape. His body and that of his two companions were thrown into a river. The Catholic priest they helped save, Father James Zhou Wenmo lived another six years before he too was martyred. His body was buried secretly by the government and so the Catholics were unable to recover it. So he also has a bodiless tomb here. It's a little curious. Since Paul Yun's father is there his tomb is included and since he helped Father Zhou he is also included. Right now there is a movement to have these people, as well as some others made into saints.

The pilgrimmage itself was also a retreat and had some really surreal moments. One of my favorites was an old and really funny priest playing a harmonica on the bus ride over. He played "Ode to Joy," "Immaculate Mary" and "How Great Thou Art"! We also had to put on a little play where we talked about how we tried to show the spirt of the martyrs in our daily lives. It was really a great experience and I understand more now about God, the martyrs, and my studies.

Here are some pictures:

Here are the tombs with a statue of Jesus overlooking them.
Here isthe little parish there. During the mass we sat on these cushions. You take off your shoes before going in.
Here is a picture of some of my fellow pilgrims. I don't know who the guy is but the nun and the two ladies and I had lunch together. The woman on the right had a problem with her legs and couldn't really walk on her own so the other woman stayed with her the whole time and helped her out. It was very sweet and I'm sure brought a smile to Our Lord. They are in the process of converting to Catholicism.
A statue of Jesus overlooks another statue of Jesus. I think the one at the bottom is modeled on a famous painting of Jesus embracing a sinner, I think it's called the Prodigal Son or something like that.