By the time of his demise, Msgr. John A. Choi Jae-seon, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Pusan, Korea and Titular Bishop of the See of Tanaramusa, was the second oldest prelate in Korea.
Born to a Catholic family in the Gyeongsangnam Province on January 7, 1912, in Ulsan, Bishop Choi entered the Minor Seminary in the Daegu Diocese and was ordained to the priesthood aged 26 on June 11, 1938.
When Pusan's Apostolic Vicariate was carved from Daegu's Archdiocese on January 26, 1957, Choi was appointed its First Vicar Apostolic, receiving his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Fussala on May 30, from Bishop Thomas Quinlan SSCME., assisted by Archbishops Paul Marie Kinam Ro and John Baptist Sye Bong-Kil. In 1962, the Apostolic Vicariate became a diocese, and on March 10, was the vicar was named as its first bishop.
However, trouble with his diocesan clergy led him to resign on September 19, 1973 at the age of 61, more than a decade before canon law would have required him to request retirement at 75, receiving in return the Titular See of Tanaramusa. Two years later, he founded the Korean Missionary Society in 1975, which did not sit comfortably with the local Church then, later realized as being timely and right, with the Bishop having prophetic insight being a real pioneer in the Foreign Mission Field in the Korean Church.
A decisive leader who laid the foundations of the Diocese of Pusan, Bishop Choi, who suffered chronic ill health, died in a Church run hospital in Pusan, 320 kilometers Southeast of Seoul, on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at the venerable age of 96, after living his last years in a seven square meter room at the headquarters of the Korean Foreign Mission Sisters, a group he founded in 1986.
About 2,500 clergy, religious and laypeople packed Namcheon Cathedral in Busan on June 5, for the funeral Mass. Bishop Paul Hwang Cheol-soo of Pusan presided, with 19 other bishops including Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul and about 230 priests concelebrating.
Pointing to the coffin, over which lay a plain black cloth except for the cross emblem on it, Bishop Hwang noted that Bishop Choi was a very simple person who had requested his coffin not be decorated.
Born to a Catholic family in the Gyeongsangnam Province on January 7, 1912, in Ulsan, Bishop Choi entered the Minor Seminary in the Daegu Diocese and was ordained to the priesthood aged 26 on June 11, 1938.
When Pusan's Apostolic Vicariate was carved from Daegu's Archdiocese on January 26, 1957, Choi was appointed its First Vicar Apostolic, receiving his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Fussala on May 30, from Bishop Thomas Quinlan SSCME., assisted by Archbishops Paul Marie Kinam Ro and John Baptist Sye Bong-Kil. In 1962, the Apostolic Vicariate became a diocese, and on March 10, was the vicar was named as its first bishop.
However, trouble with his diocesan clergy led him to resign on September 19, 1973 at the age of 61, more than a decade before canon law would have required him to request retirement at 75, receiving in return the Titular See of Tanaramusa. Two years later, he founded the Korean Missionary Society in 1975, which did not sit comfortably with the local Church then, later realized as being timely and right, with the Bishop having prophetic insight being a real pioneer in the Foreign Mission Field in the Korean Church.
A decisive leader who laid the foundations of the Diocese of Pusan, Bishop Choi, who suffered chronic ill health, died in a Church run hospital in Pusan, 320 kilometers Southeast of Seoul, on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at the venerable age of 96, after living his last years in a seven square meter room at the headquarters of the Korean Foreign Mission Sisters, a group he founded in 1986.
About 2,500 clergy, religious and laypeople packed Namcheon Cathedral in Busan on June 5, for the funeral Mass. Bishop Paul Hwang Cheol-soo of Pusan presided, with 19 other bishops including Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul and about 230 priests concelebrating.
Pointing to the coffin, over which lay a plain black cloth except for the cross emblem on it, Bishop Hwang noted that Bishop Choi was a very simple person who had requested his coffin not be decorated.
By the time of his demise, Msgr. John A. Choi Jae-seon, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Pusan, Korea and Titular Bishop of the See of Tanaramusa, was the second oldest prelate in Korea.
Born to a Catholic family in the Gyeongsangnam Province on January 7, 1912, in Ulsan, Bishop Choi entered the Minor Seminary in the Daegu Diocese and was ordained to the priesthood aged 26 on June 11, 1938.
When Pusan's Apostolic Vicariate was carved from Daegu's Archdiocese on January 26, 1957, Choi was appointed its First Vicar Apostolic, receiving his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Fussala on May 30, from Bishop Thomas Quinlan SSCME., assisted by Archbishops Paul Marie Kinam Ro and John Baptist Sye Bong-Kil. In 1962, the Apostolic Vicariate became a diocese, and on March 10, was the vicar was named as its first bishop.
However, trouble with his diocesan clergy led him to resign on September 19, 1973 at the age of 61, more than a decade before canon law would have required him to request retirement at 75, receiving in return the Titular See of Tanaramusa. Two years later, he founded the Korean Missionary Society in 1975, which did not sit comfortably with the local Church then, later realized as being timely and right, with the Bishop having prophetic insight being a real pioneer in the Foreign Mission Field in the Korean Church.
A decisive leader who laid the foundations of the Diocese of Pusan, Bishop Choi, who suffered chronic ill health, died in a Church run hospital in Pusan, 320 kilometers Southeast of Seoul, on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at the venerable age of 96, after living his last years in a seven square meter room at the headquarters of the Korean Foreign Mission Sisters, a group he founded in 1986.
About 2,500 clergy, religious and laypeople packed Namcheon Cathedral in Busan on June 5, for the funeral Mass. Bishop Paul Hwang Cheol-soo of Pusan presided, with 19 other bishops including Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul and about 230 priests concelebrating.
Pointing to the coffin, over which lay a plain black cloth except for the cross emblem on it, Bishop Hwang noted that Bishop Choi was a very simple person who had requested his coffin not be decorated.
Born to a Catholic family in the Gyeongsangnam Province on January 7, 1912, in Ulsan, Bishop Choi entered the Minor Seminary in the Daegu Diocese and was ordained to the priesthood aged 26 on June 11, 1938.
When Pusan's Apostolic Vicariate was carved from Daegu's Archdiocese on January 26, 1957, Choi was appointed its First Vicar Apostolic, receiving his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Fussala on May 30, from Bishop Thomas Quinlan SSCME., assisted by Archbishops Paul Marie Kinam Ro and John Baptist Sye Bong-Kil. In 1962, the Apostolic Vicariate became a diocese, and on March 10, was the vicar was named as its first bishop.
However, trouble with his diocesan clergy led him to resign on September 19, 1973 at the age of 61, more than a decade before canon law would have required him to request retirement at 75, receiving in return the Titular See of Tanaramusa. Two years later, he founded the Korean Missionary Society in 1975, which did not sit comfortably with the local Church then, later realized as being timely and right, with the Bishop having prophetic insight being a real pioneer in the Foreign Mission Field in the Korean Church.
A decisive leader who laid the foundations of the Diocese of Pusan, Bishop Choi, who suffered chronic ill health, died in a Church run hospital in Pusan, 320 kilometers Southeast of Seoul, on Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at the venerable age of 96, after living his last years in a seven square meter room at the headquarters of the Korean Foreign Mission Sisters, a group he founded in 1986.
About 2,500 clergy, religious and laypeople packed Namcheon Cathedral in Busan on June 5, for the funeral Mass. Bishop Paul Hwang Cheol-soo of Pusan presided, with 19 other bishops including Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul and about 230 priests concelebrating.
Pointing to the coffin, over which lay a plain black cloth except for the cross emblem on it, Bishop Hwang noted that Bishop Choi was a very simple person who had requested his coffin not be decorated.
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