Letters written by Father Maubant before
and after his arrival in Korea St. Pierre Philibert Maubant was born in Vassy, Calvados, France, on September 20, 1803, he became a priest in 1829. The Paris Foreign Missions Society assigned him to Korea; he arrived there on January 12, 1836, the first French priest to enter Korea. After over 3 years of service, he was arrested on September 6, 1839. Bishop Imbert, he and Father Chastan, beaten and tortured, were executed at Saemant’o (Seoul) on September 21, 1839. They were canonized as 3 of the 103 Korean Saints in 1984.
In a letter written in November 1833, M. Maubant gives details of the death of Bishop Bruguière and indicates his intention of setting out to enter Korea in his place. Text in French, in English. Ths first letter below is the continuation of this account, with details of the Bishop's grave and his entry into Korea.
At the end of his last letter (the first part is included in the linked letters below), written in September 1839 while awaiting the arrival of Fr. Chastan, with whom he was to surrender to the authorities, Fr. Maubant provided the first account of the start of the 1839 Gihae Persecution. This can be read here in French and in English (PDF files). This can be compared to the complete account of the Gihae Persecution composed by Bishop Ferréol in 1846, available here in my English translation. For more information, I have placed in parallel the accounts of the martyrs given (originally in Latin) by Kim Dae-geon and by Bishop Ferréol.
A Korean journal 상교우서 has published scans and transcripts of the French originals of letters written by Fr. Maubant, together with a Korean translation. These are available through the links below (KS = Korean source)
1) The first letter written by M. Maubant to the Directors of the Seminary of Foreign Missions after his arrival in Korea, April 4, 1836 French text English translation KS A KS B KS C KS D
2) Letter to Fr.Legrégeois about sending seminarians and instructions to Fr. Chastan about a sea entry French text English translation KS (image).KS (French text)
3) Letter to Father Legrégeois after sending off the 3 seminarians, with the text of their oath. French (+ Latin) text English translation Korean source
4) A second letter to the Directors of the Seminary of Foreign Missions, December 9, 1836 French text English translation KS A, KS B KS C
5) Another letter (from 1837) to the Directors of the Seminary of Foreign Missions French text English translation KS A. KS B KS C
6) A letter to M. Maupas, parish priest of Vassy with some of the same contents as the previous (1837) letter. French text English translation Korean source
7) Another letter (from December 1838) to the Directors of the Seminary of Foreign Missions and a letter to M. Verrolles French text English translation Korean source
8) The first part of the last letter before martyrdom (1839) French text English translation KS A