Korean Martyrs Blessed Virgin Mary Sisters Congregation

History & origins

The Palma Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs began from a community founded by Father Andrew Bang Yu-ryong together with Sister Andrea Yun Byeong-hyeon, as Father Bang sought to broaden the spirituality of the Korean Martyrs' community so that women in different circumstances could live a consecrated vocation. The Catholic Encyclopedia of Korea records that the “Palma House of the Blessed Korean Martyrs” began in Busan on October 1, 1962, and that its first members started religious life in a rented room in Cheonghak-dong. The community later moved through Chojang-dong and Sujeong-dong before settling at Oryundae, gradually establishing the foundations of the congregation.

As the community grew, its formation structure and branch communities also expanded. A novitiate was established in 1985, and an autonomous branch was founded in Yangsan in March 1987. This record provides a direct historical origin for the Yangsan branch that is now registered at the Hogye-gil address. The congregation later developed retreat and welfare activities in Yangsan, linking the branch not only with communal religious life but also with the wider expansion of the congregation's apostolic work.

In 1992, the community received formal recognition as a religious institute of the Diocese of Busan and adjusted its name, and in 1996 it adopted the present name, the Palma Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs. These institutional developments provided the framework within which communities including the Yangsan branch could continue their consecrated life and apostolate as parts of a single religious congregation.

The current directory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea explicitly identifies the community at Hogye-gil as the “Yangsan branch.” The history of this place should therefore not be replaced by the entire history of the congregation; rather, it is properly understood as the development from the founding community to the establishment of an autonomous Yangsan branch in 1987, followed by its continuation within the formally recognized and developing congregation.