Congregation of Saint Paul

History & origins

The Society of St. Paul was founded by Blessed James Alberione on August 20, 1914, in Alba, Italy. Its founder proposed an apostolate that would use the new means of social communication of his time, including printing and publishing, as a central way of proclaiming the Gospel. The congregation entered Korea on January 15, 1962, and gradually expanded the foundations of its publishing and media apostolate within the Korean Church.

The Suwon community was established on February 28, 1994, as the Society’s regional communities expanded after its arrival in Korea. The official Catholic directory lists the present house on Gwanhangil in Jeongnam-myeon, Hwaseong, as the “Suwon community of the Society of St. Paul” and gives the same date as its establishment. This record confirms that by the mid-1990s the Pauline community had taken root in the Diocese of Suwon as an independent religious house.

Public official sources do not provide a detailed chronology of later moves or construction. However, because both the congregation’s entry into Korea and the exact founding date of the Suwon community are documented, the history of this house can be understood as one stage in the expansion of the Korean Pauline apostolate into the Diocese of Suwon. The central significance of the place is the continuation, through this Hwaseong community, of the worldwide congregation’s social-communication mission and the apostolic work of the Korean region.