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MBS Martyr Sisters in North Korea (between 1950-1952)
 1. Sr. Eva Schütz (nee: Eugenie)
Date of Birth: April 10, 1899
Birth Place: Bernried, Germany
Date of First Profession: August 30, 1926 at Tutzing Mother House.
Date of Missioning: September 4, 1926 to Wonsan, North Korea
Date of Death: August 10, 1950 at Oksadok, North Korea
Sr. Eva’s mother died as a young woman leaving two little children and so Sr. Eva and her brother were raised by her mother’s sister.
Sr. Eva loved everyone and everything in Korea. Since Sr. Eva was gentle and amiable by nature, she was loved by all the Korean Sisters. She was consecutively the third subprioress and Novitiate second mistress in Wonsan Mother House. Then she was sent to SinGoSan station as its first superior. Sr. Eva was a born missionary but at the SinGoSan mission, she had suffered a bad heart condition. Even then, whenever she had time or whomsoever she met, she was fired with mission zeal and she did her best to lead people to her loving God.
The first half of 1940 was a very hard time when the WWII was ending and Japanese war power was declining. During this period, Sr. Eva had been the superior of HamHeung station. After this, she was moved to the Wonsan Mother House to be its main seamstress and vestiarian. After WWII and around 1945 when the Russian army occupied the North Korea, the wives of the Russian military officers came to the convent to tailor their dresses and admired her sewing skills. Thus, there were lots of sewing requests from the Russians and this in turn helped the Wonsan convent’s financial situation which was not the best at that time. Sr. Eva handled everything accurately and cleverly and thus she earned the esteem and admiration of people. She had a great mission fervor and tried her best to draw even a single soul to God.
Sr. Eva died in Oksadok, the communists’ hard labor camp. Let’s listen to what Sr. Diomedes wrote about her death:
Even before our disbandment, Sr. Eva had been already suffering with a very weak heart. After our arrest, the extremely poor situation of the three months’ imprisonment made her condition much worse. While going up to the hard labor camp, the scorching heat of the August sun beat down on all of us and Sr. Eva’s weak heart couldn’t stand the situation and so she fainted. I quickly injected her a heart stimulant. The head of the labor camp wanted to take her alive to the labor camp and so he let her ride a cow up to the labor camp. Sr. Eva arrived safely at the labor camp site. But her body continued to be swollen and she developed stomach ailments and intestinal disorders. She suffered greatly but she wasn’t bedridden up to 1949 Christmas. Afterwards she was completely bedridden but without pillows, bed, nor mattress (any kind of under-beddings), we could hear her groaning pitifully. I tried my best but couldn’t treat her properly because in the hard labor camp there was no medicine, no instrument for any kind of proper treatment. I drained off some water from her swollen legs with the pointed straw ends just a week before her death. The water was drained off from her legs drop by drop through the straw. As expected, her legs got infected through this straw ending and Sr. Eva suffered and groaned with a high fever. I tried all the medications which I possessed to no avail. Like St. Lawrence who was martyred on the red-hot grilles, Sr. Eva died on August 10th in extreme fever and pain, offering her life as a sacrifice to God. Her face was covered with a bridal veil and crowned with a bridal flower wreath. Her coffin was carried up to the tomb site along the mountain path decorated with summer flowers.
Thus, Sr. Eva died in fever and pain within one year in Oksadok. Sr. Eva lived her vowed life of 24 years as a true missionary in Korea. At her death, she was 51 years old. Her tomb is on the mid-hillside of Gangkae, Zagangdo, North Korea.
2. Sr. Lucia Park (nee: Angela)
Date of Birth: October 14, 1919
Birth Place: SoonAhn, PyungAhnNahmDo, North Korea
Date of First Profession: June 22, 1943 in Wonsan, North Korea
Date of Death: October 11, 1950 in SoonAhn, PyungAhnNahmDo, North Korea
Sr. Lucia Park was Sr. Columba Park’s niece. Sr. Columba Park had been appointed as the subprioress to be in charge of all the Korean Sisters after the disbandment and separation from the German superiors.
Sr. Lucia was born in 1919 as the first child of three children in SoonAhn, PyungAhnNahmDo, North Korea. She and her family lived a comparatively well-to-do life. Her father died before she entered convent. She had an upright and positive self-image. She was forthright and spoke out what she thought right. She was a well-formed beauty and her character was refreshing like a crisp morning. Everyone loved her. She had a deep Catholic faith, learned from her family tradition. She loved to help the poor and the needy. She had good sense and correct judgments.
At the age of 19, she came to the Clothing ceremony of her aunt, Sr. Colomba Park and on the spot she entered the convent in Wonsan. With her lively and intelligent character she endured well all the hardships of the convent. She passed a qualifying examination for the music teachers as a postulant.
When her first profession was delayed and she became despondent, her aunt, Sr. Colomba advised her saying, “Who obtains the biggest crown of martyrdom is more important than Who makes profession faster than the others.”
Thus, Sr. Lucia wanted to obtain the crown of martyrdom even before her first profession. So, she obtained what she desired, the crown of martyrdom for Christ on October 11, 1950, seven years after her first profession, at the age of 31, by the local communists of her town.
 3. Oblate Chang (nee: Agatha)
Date of Birth: 1910 (Month and day are not known.)
Birth Place: Born in HwangHaeDo, North Korea; Grown up HeHwaDong, Seoul
Date of Oblate Profession: February 26, 1927
Date of Death: October 14, 1950 at HamHeung Prison, North Korea
As a resident oblate, Agnetta lived a life of sacrifices in the spirit of martyrs. In death, she was killed or martyred by the communist prison camp guards.
While living as an oblate for 23 years, she taught and baptized many people. She willingly fulfilled the lowly jobs of the convent. She couldn’t wear the monastic garments which she longed to wear.
She was murdered by the communists at the age of 40.
Her tomb site is at the Catholic cemetery in HamHeung, North Korea.
 4. Sr. M. Fructuosa Gerstmayer (nee: Maria)
Date of Birth: February 4, 1898
Birth Place: Weingarten, Germany
Date of First Profession: February 2, 1923 at Tutzing Mother House
Date of Missioning: September 4, 1926 to Korea
Date of Death: September 16, 1952 at Oksadok hard labor camp
Sr. Fructuosa is from a very devout Catholic family. She is one of 10 children. The 10 children grew up together very lively and happy. So Sr. Fructuosa has a very open, helping and beautiful character. She was tall and had a very clear and beautiful voice. Naturally she was always in charge of the small choir. As soon as she arrived in Korea, she became the head nurse of the “Mary’s Help” Clinic in lieu of Sr. Hermetis who left for the Philippines on account of her failing health. Sr. Fructuosa served and cared for the poor and the sick with all her zeal for 23 years. After the Clinic was closed by the communists, she was imprisoned and then sent to the hard labor camp, Oksadok.
Sr. Fructuosa not only took care of the poor sick but she also was a fervent missionary who baptized over 5,000 infants on condition. Near and around Wonsan, she visited almost all the families and houses and took care of the poor sick people. On Sundays, she was in front of the Blessed Sacrament praying and entreating for her extreme poor people and for the pagans and the atheists. Even then, whenever called, she dashed out to take care of the emergency cases as best as she can without any complaints or reluctance. She seemed to be happy with the poor and the sick who were waiting for her care.
But she couldn’t take care of herself and so health-wise she suffered greatly in the prison and at Oksadok. The following are Sr. Diomedes’ description of Sr. Fructuosa’s last days:
Sr. Fructuosa suffered with diarrhea and dropsy from the time of imprisonment in PyungYang. Since then, she could never recover from her sickness to be healthy but got worsened in Oksadok. Nevertheless, she helped daily in the labor camp kitchen and tried to make her companions happy giving them encouragement. In August 1951, she suffered a stroke and received the Last Sacrament. After that, she seemed to get a bit better but she was to spend her time lying in the sewing room. Even in lying position in the camp sewing room she did more than her share of sewing. She mended fellow companions’ socks and gloves till late in the night. This caused her sickness worsened and other infectious sickness set in. So finally she became bedridden. Then, she got another stroke and became unconscious. She left this world for the better one on between September 15 and 16, 1952, still unconscious but peacefully. After Sr. Fructuosa’s death, the camp guards loosened their grip somewhat and treated us a little bit better. We were almost sure that Sr. Fructuosa interceded for us before the throne of God.
Sr. Fructuosa was known to the people of Wonsan as “the renown German Doctor Sister and the living Saint.” Truly she lived as such; she was a perfect religious, a model Sister. She led a life of martyrs with patience and love. And she died as a martyr.
ALL OUR MARTYR SISTERS,
PRAY FOR US!
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