62 years in Korea: the "long journey in the hands of God" of a missionary
"I arrived in Seoul and everything was destroyed. Only the cathedral and the central station remained. (...) Thinking back to that time, I am always amazed to see the miracle that Korea has done to recover on foot."
Sister Adriana Bricchi, 91, is a missionary of the Daughters of Saint Mary Help of Christians. The one who has worked in South Korea for 62 years tells of her "long journey in the hands of God"Agenzia Fides.
On December 31, 1959, the nun arrived in Korea. The country was then devastated by the civil war between the north and the south. “I arrived in Seoul and everything was destroyed. Only the cathedral and the central station remained,” explains Sister Adriana. "Thinking back to that time, I'm always amazed at the miracle Korea has done to get back on its feet," she continued.
"When I arrived, there were three of us nuns in the parish house where the Salesians had also just arrived. I remember the freezing cold, a frost without snow. In the house in Gwangju, we created a college, which then turned into a high school, while in the parish we had a kindergarten. We visited families and the sick in the nearby hospital."
She fetched bread and milk from American military camps to give to the children. “Among these children, some became priests, others nuns, and it was a wonderful experience for me.
Although I could not speak, we communicated heart to heart", explains the nun. If on her arrival in the country, they were only three nuns, there are now about sixty in the house of Sister Adriana, and 260 Salesian Sisters in South Korea, distributed in 32 houses.
"The Korean people have a special religious sense, as evidenced by many admirable Buddhists who work for good. Many of the young women who attended our boarding schools have become Catholic nuns and now work in parishes, and 'they come to visit us, you can see that the faith they encountered during their years at boarding school has been preserved in them. This community experience is, in my opinion, the most beautiful experience."
MC
