Sisters of Charity of Seton

History & origins

The history of Agape Jeongyangwon reaches back to 1982. That year, retired Jeonju diocesan priest Father Seo Jeong-su prepared a home in Yulchon-ri, Hwangdeung-myeon, Iksan County, for elderly women who otherwise faced a lonely old age. The Catholic Times reported the opening in May 1982, noting that Father Seo had prepared a building on a quiet farm and that Sisters of the Annunciation were to provide the initial service.

This early record shows the roots of the social-welfare site that today houses the Agape community of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill. Public sources, however, do not establish the exact date on which the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill assumed responsibility for the apostolate. It would therefore be inaccurate to project the present congregation back to the institution's founding in 1982.

Today the Korean Catholic directory officially lists the convent at Agape Jeongyangwon in Hwangdeung as the Agape Community of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, and the congregation's own materials confirm its continuing apostolate of elder care there. The broad continuity from Father Seo's original home for older people to the present religious community can thus be verified, while the precise date of the handover or establishment of the Seton community remains a gap requiring further documentation.