Stories of Christian Martyrs: Just De Bretenieres

Even as a youngster, Just de Bretenieres dreamed of faraway places
and missionary service. He was born in the Burgundy region of
France to devoted Catholic parents. One day at the age of six, de
Bretenieres was playing with his younger brother, digging holes in the
ground. Suddenly he shouted, “Quiet, I hear the Chinese, I see them.
They are calling me. I have to go to save them.” De Bretenieres never
forgot this incident, and as his devotion to faith grew, so did his sense
that his life must be given to carrying God’s salvation to foreign soil.

Not yet twenty, de Bretenieres entered “minor” seminary in Paris,
then went on to the Foreign Missions Seminary. Childhood dreams
may have taken him there, but those dreams had to grow up, deepen,
mature. In 1861 he wrote to his parents: “I sense quite well the road I
am taking is rough and difficult. I am not deluding myself about its
obstacles and sufferings, nor to the dangers I will meet. I place myself
entirely in God’s hands.”

Graduates of the seminary were never told beforehand where they
would be sent. A priest was to simply follow orders, adjusting and accepting his assignment, aware that the ticket to foreign service was often “one-way” and that few places would be welcoming. When de Bretenieres heard his post would be Korea, his sense of calling and youthful joy of adventure came together. “I believe that our Lord has given me the best portion. Korea, the land of martyrs!” he wrote.

Just de Bretenieres sailed from Marseilles on July 19, 1864. He
entered Seoul, the capital city, on May 29, 1865, secretly, taken to shore
under cover of night in the same way that a spy might approach an
enemy country. The government of Korea had in fact declared war on
the church.

De Bretenieres learned the language and culture, and he began working covertly. Operating mostly at night, he heard confessions, blessed marriages, gave confirmation, and administered last rites. He had baptized about forty adult converts when in February 1866, his location,
along with his bishop’s, was betrayed by one of the bishop’s servants. De
Bretenieres was arrested while celebrating Mass and taken to court tied
in red rope, the symbol of a serious crime.

De Bretenieres’s crime was being a priest and a missionary at a time
when the regime had decided that foreign influences must be swept away.
When he responded in his defense—“I came to Korea to save your
souls”—he was actually testifying of his “guilt” and leading the court even
more quickly to its preordained conclusion. After two weeks of ceremonial proceedings and daily tortures, de Bretenieres and his bishop, along
with others, were carried away (tied to chairs, for their legs were no
longer capable of bearing weight) to the sandy beach that would absorb
their blood.

The party of priests testified and preached as the heavily guarded
caravan reached its destination. The prisoners were each held up by poles
placed under the arms and paraded before the gathered witnesses. Executioners then performed the death dances, swinging swords and inciting the crowd’s bloodlust. Each man was stripped of clothing and made to kneel; then quickly the swords fell, and lives spent mostly in study, prayer, and preparation were cut violently short. De Bretenieres was twenty-eight years old.

Upon hearing the news, his father wept; his mother raised her eyes
toward Heaven. The boy who had heard a call to missionary service
while digging in the ground had finished his mission as a man, a priest,
a martyr.

This story is an excerpt from Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs. You can get your own copy free with any donation to The Voice of the Martyrs.