수원 성 빈센트 드 뽈 자비의 수녀회

History & origins

The roots of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Suwon go back to March 25, 1841 in Paderborn, Germany. The community grew around the Vincentian commitment to serve poor and sick people. Its Korean mission began in January 1965, when three sisters were sent to Suwon at the request of Bishop Victorinus Youn Kong-hi. Their early work centered on medical and nursing service, and the opening of St. Vincent's Hospital in 1967 broadened the congregation's apostolic foundation in Korea. The official chronology also records that a convent chapel in Dongseon-dong, Seoul, was prepared and its first Mass celebrated in 1966, showing that the congregation had a Seoul presence from the early years of its Korean mission.

Korean vocations soon followed. Korean sisters made their first profession in Germany in 1968, and a Korean novitiate was established in 1971. In 1974 the congregation opened its first parish branch and the Suwon motherhouse was blessed, strengthening the basis for an autonomous Korean community. In 1990 the Korean congregation became independent from Paderborn as a diocesan congregation under the name Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Suwon. Its work later expanded beyond medical care, social welfare, and parish ministry in Korea to missionary activity in countries including Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste.

The location covered here in Samseon-dong, Seongbuk-gu is a Seoul branch of this congregation. The official chronology confirms a Seoul base in Dongseon-dong in 1966, but publicly available records do not clearly establish when or how that earlier presence became the present Samseon-dong branch. The congregation's foundation in 1841, its arrival in Korea in 1965, and its independence in 1990 must therefore be understood as the wider history of the religious institute, not as a building chronology for Samseon-dong. The current directory confirms the existence of the Seoul branch at this address, where the congregation's tradition of charity and service continues. Until a separate official chronology for the Seoul house becomes available, distinguishing the branch's present identity from the congregation's broader history is essential to preserving the accuracy of the place record.