구합덕 성당성직자의 서한 분석 = An Analysis of the Correspondence of Priests of Old Hapdeok Catholic Church

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Catholic Diocese of Daejeon has published two volumes of the letters of the priests who served at its churches in the early twentieth century. This invaluable information may be used to gain an important insight on the history of Catholic church of the Chungcheong region.
This paper tries to analyse the correspondence of the clergy of Old Hapdeok Catholic Church, which occupies an important place in the history of the Catholic Diocese of Daejeon. Among the letters of the clergy of the Old Hapdeok Church, those of two Korean priests are fairly simple and not much of interest. However, the correspondence by three of the four French fathers, who served at the church mostly in the first half of the twentieth century, is very important in terms of its volume and contents and thus becomes the main subject of my analysis. The result shows that the interests and activities of these priests played a major role in the development of this particular parish.
The correspondence of the priests of the Hapdeok church can be chronologically divided into three phases. The first phase is the period when Father Curlier laid foundation, literally and figuratively, of the Hapdeok Parish. He recognized his role as a missionary and tried his best to understand the situation of the area and status of his parishioners.
In the second phase, Father Krempff searched for the economic basis of the church and focused on the external growth of his parish. He was deeply interested in the procurement of the land for the Old Hapdeok Church. It would provide help for the poor parishioners of the church and financial resources for the church. As a result, the Old Hapdeok Church became the substantial center of the Catholic churches of the Naepo area.
In the third phase, Father Perrin established the religious foundation of the Old Hapdeok Church. He paid much attention on the improvement of the religious life of his parishioners. He tackled many issues of his parishioners and devised new changes for the church. Father Perrin made his best efforts for the internal replenishment of the Old Hapdeok Church.