Korean Martyrs Blessed Virgin Mary Sisters Religious Community

History & origins

The roots of the Sisters of the Palma Blessed Korean Martyrs lie in the “Palma House of the Blessed Korean Martyrs,” which Fr. Andrew Bang Yu-ryong began in Busan on October 1, 1962. Having already founded the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs and the Clerical Congregation of the Blessed Korean Martyrs, Fr. Bang established another community so that women in a wider range of life circumstances could follow the same spirituality in consecrated life. The first community began in a small rented house in Cheonghak-dong, Busan, with two widowed women.

After moving through several residences, the community built and settled in a motherhouse at Oryundae in Busan in 1973 and later expanded with a novitiate and local communities. An official introduction to the broader Blessed Korean Martyrs religious family explains that, after the Palma community was founded in 1962, it received approval from the Diocese of Busan in 1992 under the name Sisters of the Palma Blessed Korean Martyrs.

Today, the Catholic directory lists both the Daejeon community in Jeonui-myeon, Sejong, and the Jibang-ri community in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan, within the Diocese of Daejeon. Their presence reflects the expansion of the community beyond its origins in Busan. The available official and church sources do not give the date or early circumstances of the Jibang-ri community itself, so those details have not been inferred; only its present existence as a recognized community is stated.