St. Louis Bernard Beaulieu, MPE (1840-1866) — Canonized in 1984 by St. John Paul II with the holy martyrs of 19th century Korea, Louis Bernard Beaulieu was born in Langon, France, on October 8, 1840. From his widowed mother he received a solid Christian education.

At the age of 9, he entered the Minor Seminary in Bordeaux, and the Major Seminary at the age of 17. In June, 1860, he was accepted as an aspirant at the Seminary of the Foreign Missions in Paris, where he was ordained a priest in May, 1864, and appointed to Korea despite the ongoing religious persecution.

As soon as he arrived in Korea, his new Bishop, Monsignor Berneux, sent him to a mountain district southwest of Seoul. There, life was extremely difficult. The presence of any foreigner, and let alone a priest, is prohibited by law … Difficult, dangerous and courageous apostolate … For a while Louis Beaulieu hides in the mountains, but he is denounced, arrested, tried, condemned and beheaded on March 8, 1866. His memorial is celebrated on May 21.