Salesian Sisters (Daughters of Mary Help of Christians)

History & origins

The local apostolate of the Salesian Sisters in Jeju can be traced concretely through the establishment of St. Isidore Youth House. According to the Diocese of Jeju, the St. Isidore Rural Development Association received approval from the Jeju education authorities in October 1993 for a social education institute, and after preparing the facility it opened the Youth House on October 15, 1994. The Salesian Sisters operated the center as a specialized place for the character formation of young people.

As the number of participants grew, the facilities required expansion. The original prefabricated structures were replaced by new training and accommodation buildings, and on June 25, 2005, a Mass for the tenth anniversary of the Youth House was celebrated together with the blessing of the new facilities. The diocesan report notes the presence of the Korean provincial superior of the Salesian Sisters, showing that the work continued as part of the congregation’s official youth apostolate.

Today the Korean Catholic directory registers the congregation’s “Jeju convent” in the same Geumak-dong area, and the Diocese of Jeju locates the community at St. Isidore Youth House. The history of this local community can therefore be understood, apart from the wider history of the congregation, as a continuous regional apostolate rooted in youth education at St. Isidore since the 1990s.