Tutzing Benedictine Sisters of St. Benedict Convent Daegu

History & origins

The Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing were founded in 1885 and first entered Korea on November 21, 1925. Responding to a request from Abbot-Bishop Bonifaz Sauer of Tokwon Abbey, the first four sisters from Tutzing arrived in Wonsan and began parish ministry, education, health care, and social service. The Wonsan community became a priory in 1927, opened a novitiate, and continued the formation of Korean religious vocations.

As religious persecution intensified in North Korea after liberation, the Wonsan Priory was dissolved in May 1949 and the community was dispersed. Korean sisters who made their way south met again in December 1950 at a refugee camp at Jungang Parish in Busan during the Korean War and began rebuilding their common life. At the invitation of the bishop of Daegu they settled in Daegu in 1951, established their first canonical station in Gongpyeong-dong in 1952, and in July 1956 the Sinam-dong community was raised to St. Benedict Priory.

The congregation subsequently expanded its ministries and communities from its base in Daegu and dedicated a new priory building in Sasu-dong in 1983. In 1987, St. Gertrud Priory in Seoul was separated, reorganizing the congregation’s structure in Korea. The present Daejeon community belongs to this Daegu-priory lineage. The available official sources do not state when the Daejeon community itself was established, so no unverified date has been inserted into this history.