Conventual Franciscan Order

History & origins

The Order of Friars Minor Conventual entered Korea in October 1958. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, two friars were sent on October 6 of that year and first arrived in Busan, where they began their apostolate by taking responsibility for pastoral ministry at Beomil-dong Parish. From an early stage, the friars combined parish ministry with service to people affected by Hansen's disease and other forms of social welfare.

The order's connection with the Samdeok area of Ilgwang grew from this social apostolate. A history published by KIRA Monthly records that on February 5, 1961, the Conventual Franciscans then serving Yongho-dong Parish purchased land in Icheon-ri, Ilgwang-myeon, to help people who had completed treatment at the National Yongho Hospital build an independent community. Houses were constructed with government support, and on December 26, 1962, seventy households totaling 250 people moved into the settlement. The name "Samdeok" referred to the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

Over time, both the living environment of Samdeok Village and the surrounding district changed greatly. A Diocese of Busan facility record dated April 2016 lists "Ilgwang Samdeok Village" as a welfare facility at Samdeok-gil 15-23 in Ilgwang-myeon, Gijang-gun. The current Catholic Directory in Korea lists the same address as the Order of Friars Minor Conventual's "Busan Ilgwang Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Friary." The available sources, however, do not establish the exact date on which the friary itself opened, so no opening year has been stated.

The history of this place therefore cannot be reduced to the opening chronology of a single friary building. It connects the order's Korean apostolate, begun in Busan in 1958, the work of supporting self-reliance at Samdeok Village in the 1960s, and the continued Franciscan presence at the same address in a changed local environment. The present friary can be understood as a point where this earlier social-welfare ministry meets today's parish and lay spiritual apostolates.