An Irish priest who was murdered by communist forces in 1950 is in line to be recognised as a saint.The Korean Catholic Church has applied to the Vatican to have Father Thomas Cusack beatified as a martyr.
The Holy See has accepted the application and has started the process of study and information gathering which could lead to the Co Clare priest being recognised as Ireland’s 167th saint.
Fr Cusack, along with a number of other priests, was martyred in a massacre at Taejon Prison on September 24, 1950.
The clergyman stood by his flock and refused to flee the country at the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950.
Fr Cusack was captured in July when invading North Korean forces took him hostage during a raid across the 38th Parallel.
The Columban priest spent two months living in barbaric conditions at the communist prison before he was executed on September 24.
Fr Cusack’s 15 years in Korea were marked by intense bravery and dedication to his flock.
He had also been imprisoned by the Japanese during Would War Two and spent a number of years in a prisoner of war camp.
Fr Malachy Smyth, who has recently completed a film on the Columban Fathers in Korea, said Fr Cusack would have been more concerned with the work on the ground in Korea than any future accolades.
He added: “The Korean Church has started the process and we will have to wait to see what happens from here. I’m not too sure how long this will take but it could be a large number of years.
“We [the Columbans] are not the sort who look for sainthood. We are much more interested in the work amongst the grass roots.”
If the application is successful, Fr Cusack would become only Ireland’s fourth saint of the past thousand years after Cellach of Armagh, Saint Oliver Plunkett and Charles of Mount Argus.
The vast majority of Ireland’s 166 saints lived during the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries.
Fr Cusack was born in Ballycotton near Liscannor in Co Clare on October 23, 1910. He was educated in Ballycotton National School before going on to St Mary’s College in Galway.
Fr Cusack entered the Columbans in 1928 and was ordained in 1934.
The following year he was sent to Korea and at the time of his death he was serving at a mission in Mokpo.