Saint Paul Ni Tok-ei

Ni Tok-ei Ni Tok-ei 18th-century Korean martyr, former pottery merchant. , who received the name Paul at baptism, was born in the district of Tsien-lang, in the province of Tsiong-Tsieng. Lacking formal education, he possessed many virtues and a small fortune, which he used entirely for the conversion of the pagans. His zeal drew the attention of the enemies of our holy religion, which forced him to change his residence five or six times; but each of the places to which he withdrew soon became a fervent Christian community.

Finally, he came to pitch his tent in a pottery factory in the distri ct of Tie Tieng-San District where Paul established a Christian community and was imprisoned. ng-San, and lived there from a small trade of that kind. Now, everything around him was idolatrous; he applied himself to making the true God known to these poor artisans, and he succeeded so well that, in a short time, he converted the entire village.

After the martyrdom of Paul Joun, Sabas Tsi, and Mathias Tsoi (in 1795), who had introduced the first Chinese priest, Father Jacques Sy , into Korea, t Père Jacques Sy First Chinese priest to enter Korea. he persecution did not immediately slow down, and in the province where Paul lived, a large number of neophytes were arrested. A pagan named Kim, living in the neighborhood, openly identified Paul as the leader of the Christians and threatened to denounce him to the magistrate. His wife, frightened, urged him to flee; but he refused, for fear of going against the will of God and scandalizing the neophytes who had placed their trust in him; he only hid his books and religious objects and waited.

On the eighth day of the sixth moon of 1797, he was at home, busy with his work, when suddenly some men appeared and asked, through the hedge of his garden, if he was in his house. "I am here," he replied. "Who is calling me?" He immediately went out, brought the visitors into his home, invited them to sit down, and inquired about the reason for their visit. "We are," they said, "people from the praetorium, busy searching for a slave from the prefecture who has fled; now, having learned that you have a calendar, we wanted to consult it to facilitate our searches." Paul replied: "I do indeed have a calendar, but it only indicates the passage of time"; and he brought it. "Read it for me," said the leader of the satellites. "I do not know how to read the characters." "So you only know how to read," the satellite replied, "the books of the religion of the Master of Heaven?" And he gave the order to arrest him. Immediately, a dozen men threw themselves upon him and bound him tightly.

After searching his house, where they discovered a crucifix and some objects of piety, the guards dragged him into a nearby wood, suspended him from a tree, and, while they beat him with rods, the leader interrogated him to learn the whereabouts of the priest and force him to denounce the Christians; but it was in vain. The torture did not cease until evening; as night approached, the escort led him, along with some other neophytes, to a poor inn, whose master, touched by compassion, obtained permission to loosen the bonds that were causing him great suffering; but, upon arriving at the city, Paul and his fellow captives were once again loaded with irons.

The praetorium awaited them with its grim apparatus. The mandarin, surrounded by numerous satellites and instruments of torture, summoned the confessors and first interrogated Paul. "Where is your dwelling?" he asked him. "I stayed in Tieng-lan; I now live in Tieng-San." "Who instructed you, and whom have you indoctrinated?" "I have neither master nor disciple." "You are a being worthy of death. If you have neither masters nor disciples, where do these books and this image come from?" And with a threatening gesture, he showed him the torture devices ready to be used. Paul said nothing; it was the silence of the victim awaiting immolation. It was deferred; he was led to prison with his feet and hands chained and the cangue around his neck. The other captives did everything the mandarin wanted, with the exception of one who was immediately thrown into a dungeon.

The next day, at six li (about three-quarters of a league) from the city, a market was being held; the mandarin threatened to take them both there and expose them to all the outrages of the multitude. "It is for the cause of Jesus Christ," replied Paul, "we could not sufficiently recognize such an honor." Early in the morning, the mandarin had them brought before his tribunal and said to the m: "The d Confucius Chinese philosopher whose doctrine is opposed to Christianity by the mandarin. octrine of Confuciu Mong-Tze Mencius, a Confucian philosopher cited in doctrinal debates. s, that of Mo ng Fô Name used in the text to refer to the Buddha. -Tze, and that of Fô are true. As for you, refusing to learn them, you have gone to seek a foreign error and you are still working to infect others with it! Your sect knows neither king nor parent; you give yourselves over without reserve to the most monstrous excesses; you follow this religion despite the king's prohibitions: it is a great disorder and you are worthy of death." — "Ignorant as I am," replied Paul, "I do not know the doctrine of Confucius, nor that of Mong-Tze, which are for the learned; that of Fô concerns only the bonzes; but the Christian religion is made for all men. Your servant will tell you something about it: In the beginning, God alone was; it is He who drew from nothingness all that exists. After the creation, there were spouses and families, then kings and subjects. Fô, Confucius, Mong-Tze, sovereigns, and empires are posterior to the creation of the world. God alone is the true king of heaven and earth, the master and preserver of all things, the true father of all peoples, the true source of filial piety and fidelity to princes. The love of parents and submission to authority are commanded by the fourth of the ten Christian commandments; why reproach us for knowing neither the sentiments of nature nor respect for authority?" — "If it were so," replied the mandarin, "the king, the court, and the magistrates would know it, and it is from them that the people would learn it; on the contrary, they prohibit your religion which would bring misfortune to Korea. And you, stupid people, who refuse to obey and to denounce your masters, you deserve death." — "To die for God," replied Paul, "is to ensure for my soul an eternal glory."

The two confessors were then led out of the tribunal; the satellites loaded them with chains, placed them facing the sun, and strove, through a thousand outrages, to weary their constancy and their faith. As they refused to apostatize, after insults they came to blows; some gave them slaps and kicked them; others covered them with spit or weighed with all their might on their cangues, shouting: "Today, after having paraded you around the market, we will kill you!" Finally, the satellites, after smearing their faces with lime, attached an inscription to their heads and an enormous drum to their backs; then the mandarin appeared on horseback and, with whip lashes, the two confessors were forced to run before him to the market. During the journey, a considerable crowd pressed along the passage, attracted by the cries of the satellites and the redoubled beats of the drum. It was about nine o'clock in the morning. When they arrived, the mandarin spoke. "These two wretches," he said, "are Christians, and their crime is that of rebels. They do not serve the king, do not respect their parents, and take no account of natural law. When they have made the tour of the market, they will be put to death."

To prelude the advances he announced, the mandarin had the prisoners given ten blows with a board, ordering them to apostatize. "I have already answered all your accusations," said Paul, "I have nothing to add." They struck his sides with the tips of several sticks, reiterating the same order. "Even if I were to die ten thousand times," repeated the Confessor, "I cannot deny my God."

The people admired his firmness and said: "Certainly that one will not abjure." It was seven o'clock in the evening when they were taken back to prison, after a torture of more than twelve hours. The satellites tried again to shake Paul, by representing to him that, if he did not obey the mandarin, he could not avoid death. He contented himself with replying that he knew it well.

Four days later, the jailer came to tell the two captives that the mandarin had ordered a great meal for the following day in the public square. The apostates were to take part in it with him; the confessors, on the contrary, if they persisted in their resolution, were to be put to death. Paul's companion, not fully understanding these words, believed that perhaps peace would be restored to the faithful. "It is nothing of the sort," Paul told him, "let us not give way to a vain hope that would make our torments more painful. As for me, I wish to remain in prison and, if the mandarin were to force me to leave, far from fleeing and seeking a retreat, I would remain in the city."

His companion, seized with fear, hid his head between his hands and remained silent. "What is the matter with you?" Paul asked him. — "Truly, I do not know how to endure new tortures... What is to be done?" — "It is true, we are on the cross... I too suffer much, and, as I am older than you, my age makes the tortures even more painful: but is heaven obtained at a cheap price? Trials are the currency with which one buys eternal happiness! Take courage and suffer for a few more moments."

The next day, they were led to the market square, where the mandarin's tribunal stood under a large tent, surrounded by several seats. The apostates took their places there, dressed in fine clothes, and the feast began, while the two prisoners stood at the place of execution. The mandarin said to them: "Paradise is to enjoy good food, to hear beautiful music, and to have here below a pleasure for each of one's desires. You, who wish to ascend to heaven, how will you manage to climb its thirty-three levels? Abjure, and you will be treated like these guests; otherwise, I will send you to the great tribunal, and you will be put to death. Answer." — "I have already answered," said Paul, "but I will add one more word: God is the only master of everything, of life and of death; how could I deny him?" His companion, less courageous, did not dare to resist the judge's threats, and had the weakness to do what he ordered. Encouraged by this first success, the mandarin then said: "Come, you too, renounce the Master of heaven." — "When the king issues a law," replied the generous confessor, "it is transmitted to the people, and you, far from violating it, see to its execution. How then today do you dare to order the people to blaspheme their true Father? Among us, it is not the custom to curse one's parents." The mandarin, transported with anger, ordered the books seized from Paul to be burned, and the crucifix to be paraded through the market while saying: "This man has made a God of this executed criminal; is it not dreadful?"

Around noon, while this profanation was taking place, suddenly the sky darkened, the thunder rumbled, the wind blew with violence, carried away the tent, and almost knocked over the mandarin. The apostates, who were indulging in a guilty joy, turned pale and were frightened; for lack of remorse, fear seized them and they fled. For his part, the people were moved and said that it would be better to release the Christian. During this tumult, Paul remained calm and prayed in silence; but when he was told that the books and the crucifix had been burned, he was afflicted to the point of shedding tears. Far from being disarmed by what had just taken place, the mandarin had the confessor beaten again, and it was only towards evening that he was led back to prison, but so exhausted that he fell from weakness, and they were obliged to carry him into his dungeon; which did not prevent them from loading him with a heavy cangue. Nevertheless, he was calm and occupied himself with meditation.

During the autumn, he underwent a new interrogation and was again struck with the plank. Those who saw him in this torture cried out: "He will die from the blows!" — "To die under the rods, under the plank, or under the sword," said Paul, "is the will of God; may He be blessed by all!" And he constantly asked for the grace to expire in his torments. He suffered greatly from hunger, and as his clothes had worn out, the cold also greatly increased his pains. His wife brought him wine and meat in his prison; he refused them at first: "The Blessed Virgin," he said, "having placed me on the cross, it is not fitting that I should touch these foods. I have indeed heard it said that Jesus Christ, on Calvary, was satiated with reproaches and sufferings; but I have not seen that He took anything delicate. I too am on the cross, I must do as my Savior." He nevertheless had to yield to further insistence and accept this relief.

Constantly, he thought of God and received abundant consolations from Him. One day, he heard a voice saying to him these words of the Angelic Salutation: "The Lord is with you!" And suddenly he felt filled with joy. He also seemed to have received an extraordinary and supernatural intelligence, which made him taste the beauty of Christian prayers better than the most learned. His piety was ingenious, and he knew how to take advantage of all circumstances to revive his fervor. Thus, during the winter, the excess of cold irritated the pain of his wounds; now, on Christmas Day, having undergone a cruel interrogation, he was seized with a burning fever: "See," he said in this regard, "so that my soul does not grow cold, the Lord, by a special favor, warms me by means of the blows."

After the New Year, he was put to the question three times. At the last of these trials, the mandarin said to him: "If you will abjure, I will give you rice, I will have your wounds dressed, and I will grant you a position as canton chief which will be enough to make you comfortable again." Paul replied: "Even if you gave me the whole district of Tieng-San, I could never deny God." The mandarin said to him again: "You claim that Christians honor their parents; but your four children have not come to see you a single time since you have been in prison. Has one ever seen such unnatural hearts?" He replied: "To obey one's father, is that not to honor him? Now, I have many times recommended to my children not to come near me, for fear that with the love we bear each other, this meeting might be more harmful than useful to one another. It is my formal prohibition that prevents them from visiting me, and the deprivation they impose upon themselves is a filial submission to my orders."

At the fourth moon, he underwent another cruel torture. However, the guards, who often came to see him, no longer guarded the door with the same vigilance, seeming thereby to invite him to flee; but he would not. When he was urged to do so, he replied simply: "It is the judge who had me put in prison, I can only leave it on his order." In vain did Christians represent to him that, as the conduct of the guards could only be dictated by the mandarin, he should not have any scruples about taking back a freedom that was offered to him. He reflected for a moment and replied: "If we let ourselves be caught in the traps of the demon, we run the risk of losing our soul with all the merits it may have acquired. My house is so poor that it costs me little to remain in prison, where I am at peace." Then he said to his wife: "All those who pray for me, if it is to make me enjoy the things of this world again, they must be turned away from it; but if they pray for my soul, for my eternity, so that I do not forget the sufferings and merits of Jesus Christ, recommend that they pray without ceasing. I truly hope that this is how my family prays for me. As for my food, bring me, according to your means, a measure of rice each day or every two days, and when you have nothing to give me, do not worry about it: if I cannot leave here, my corpse will be able to. Henceforth," he added, "when you are tasked with telling me something, even if it were from the Christians, if it tends to shake my courage, do not speak to me of it, my heart might be weak."

Following a new torture, which he underwent in the sixth moon, the satellites came to find him in his prison and said to him: "The governor of the province has just executed Ni-T son-Tchiang (he Ni-Tson-Tchiang Christian from a distinguished family executed shortly before Paul. was a Christian of a distinguished family), and he has sent the order to put the prisoners of Tieng-San to death if they refuse to apostatize: what do you wish to do?" — "Even if I were to die ten thousand times," he replied, "I will never apostatize." The satellites withdrew, not without having mistreated him. Two days later, that is to say the third day of the sixth moon, his wife came to the prison to inquire about his condition and the things he might need. "I am not suffering," he said, "I do not feel hunger; I do not know how many blows I have been struck with." At the same time, he handed her a calendar and prayer books, assuring her that he no longer needed them and that it was enough for him to have provisions until the 10th of the same month. He did not explain further, but it is easy to understand that he had received from above the knowledge of his coming martyrdom.

On the 8th, the mandarin had him brought to his tribunal and repeated the orders he had received to send him to his execution if he persisted in his refusal to apostatize. Paul's answer was always the same: "For several years that I have known the religion," he said, "I have known that it is right to die for God; do not hope, therefore, that I will abandon Him." He was tortured and led back to prison. The next day, his wife and three or four Christians came to visit him. He asked them what they wanted: "It is," they said, "that today you are to be made to undergo frightful tortures; we have come to witness them and to sympathize with your pains." He begged them to withdraw, for fear that their presence might make an impression on his heart that would break its energy. As they remained, the confessor added: "Why do you not do what I tell you? If the Lord strengthens me, the most cruel torments are easy to bear; if He delivers me to my own weakness, it will be impossible for me to resist the slightest suffering; but with Jesus and Mary supporting me, nothing frightens me. I conjure you to withdraw." They yielded to his entreaties and left him to prepare for the combat alone.

On the 10th in the morning, the satellites came to warn him that the day of his death had arrived. He thrilled with joy and his face appeared all radiant. "It is strange," said the people of the praetorium, "since this man has been in prison, when he is not being tortured, he is thin, pale, and dejected; the torments, on the contrary, seem to give him life, and today when his death is announced to him, one has never seen him so radiant." It was the anniversary of the day he had been paraded with such indignities around the market. They put a small cangue on him, and he advanced toward the square, surrounded by satellites who carried the instruments of torture and followed by the mandarin. The latter dismounted from his horse and ordered the condemned man to be tortured. Then they laid him face down, his head secured by his long hair and both arms tied to a large stone. They tightened the cangue until he was almost suffocated, and several executioners struck him with a triangular piece of wood, a sort of axe, each blow of which made a wound. After having covered him in blood, the mandarin asked him if he did not want to apostatize. Paul, exhausted, could not answer; then a satellite approached and said to him: "If you want to abjure, there is still time." The martyr gathered what strength he had left and said: "Never!"

His lips were black and parched, and he seemed to have barely a breath of life left. The torture began again; they interrupted it once more to ask him if he would not yet abjure. Unable to speak, Paul answered with a negative shake of his head. Suddenly he raised his head, looked at the sky, and cried out: Ave, Maria! then he fell back and seemed dead. However, the pagans said: "It is because of him that the drought afflicts us and that we are dying of hunger; we must finish him off with kicks." The crowd pressed around the victim; his wife wanted to approach to relieve him; clamors immediately rose against her; mistreated, beaten, trampled underfoot, she was carried away unconscious.

Paul having regained consciousness, the mandarin had him struck for the third time. Nothing could describe the state of his wounds. His legs had been broken above the knees; one could see the shattered bones exposed and the marrow flowed to the ground. When they untied him, he remained lying without movement; they threw him on a mat, without removing his cangue, and four executioners carried him back to the prison, which was carefully locked. The mandarin said to the guards: "If anyone gives even a glass of water to this man, I will have him put to death like him."

For two days, the martyr received no relief, and no one could know if he was dead or alive. On the 12th, toward evening, the mandarin sat on his tribunal and said: "I have orders to strike this Christian until he expires; but this spectacle, I cannot bear to see; go to the prison, drag the patient outside, look at his face, feel his pulse, and, if he still lives, finish him off and come and report it to me."

The satellites executed this order, and, with blows of stones and sticks, they put the condemned man in such a state that, except for the palms of his hands, no part of his body was without a wound; however, he still had a breath of life left. It was announced to the mandarin, who flew into a rage against the soldiers and said to them in anger: "If you do not finish him off, I will have you all put to death." The satellites therefore returned to the prison, and, this time, set no limits to their fury until the soul of the martyr had flown to heaven. However, the mandarin, fearing that he might come back to life again, had the torture continued on his corpse. One of the satellites, pressing the end of his cangue onto his chest, climbed onto it; the bones broke, the blood flowed in streams, and there remained barely an appearance of human form.

The body was covered with a mat and kept during the night.

The next day, the people of his village buried him by order of the mandarin; but seven or eight days later, Christians from about ten leagues away came to take him and buried him honorably among them. Paul was fifty-six years old. His martyrdom occurred in the year of Jesus Christ 1798, on the 12th of the sixth moon. To console his wife, the jailer said to her: "Do not grieve too much; for on the 12th, during the night, a great light surrounded the corpse."