Territorial Abbey of Tŏkwon, Tŏkugen
Tokvonen(sis)
Territorial abbey immediately subject to the Holy See · Latin Church · Tŏkwon, Tŏkugen, North Korea
Territorial abbey of the Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien near Wonsan, North Korea, raised to abbey status in 1913 and today the only territorial abbey outside Europe. The abbacy has been vacant since the late 1940s, with no priests or functioning Catholic communities in its territory since the 1950s. The Abbot of Waegwan in South Korea, Blasio Park Hyun-dong, O.S.B., serves as apostolic administrator but cannot visit North Korea.
The see
- Rank
- Territorial abbey immediately subject to the Holy See
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 12 July 1950
- Latin
- Tokvonen(sis)
- Patron
- St. Benedict
- Annuario code
- 001000308
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 5,370
- Priests
- 23
- Catholics per priest
- 233
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Abbot
- Blasio Park
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
Tokwon Abbey of St. Benedict stands in Tŏkwon, Tŏkugen, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
History
Near the town of Wonsan, in what is now North Korea, stood Tokwon Abbey, a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien. The community began as a monastic mission in Seoul and moved to Tokwon in the 1920s to take charge of the newly created Apostolic Vicariate of Wonsan. From 1949, the persecution of Christians in North Korea, which included the torture and murder of dozens of men and women religious, made any church activity in the abbacy impossible. Even so, the Territorial Abbacy of Tokwon is formally still retained as one of the few remaining territorial abbeys within the Catholic Church.
Catholic Intelligence
Get early access
We are indexing the whole visible Church: every diocese and parish on earth, searchable and mapped, with Mass times, clergy, and diocesan contacts. Launching soon. Sign up to be first in when it opens, starting with [object Object].
One email at launch. Nothing else.
Already have access? Sign inSources
The see's own website · Wikipedia
Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.