Photo : Complete View of Mt. Geumgang, cropped | By Jeong Seon, eScholarship.org | Wikicommons

Obituary of
Brother Benedict (Jeong-jo) Kim
1934.11.25 – 2022.01.13

Brother Benedict Kim was born in Tokyo on 25 November 1934. He entered Waegwan Abbey on 1 March 1963. He was 29 years of age when he came to us. It was rather old for a newcomer in those days. He made his first vows on 31 October 1965 and his final vows on 21 March 1969. He celebrated his golden jubilee of his vows as a monk on 31 October 2015.

After entering our community Brother Benedict worked in the library, the bookbindery of Benedict Press, the reception area of the Abbey, the garden etc. till he made his final vows in 1969. After that he worked for 8 years in the office of the cellarer and the general affairs office. He was sent to the Benedictine monastery Meguro in Tokyo in June 1977. He returned to Korea in August 1978 and worked as administrator at St. Benedict Center of our community in Seoul, at the Foundation Office of the Abbey and as director of Benedict Press. During the years 1983 and 1984 he watched for 8 months over our former cellarer Bro. Konrado Im who lived as a patient in Japan at that time. After that from September 1984 he was responsible for cleaning the church of the Abbey for 1 year, From October 1985 he worked for 12 years as cellarer of our monastery in Seoul. In July 1997 he came to the Abbey where he took care of the church building. In 2004 he went back to the monastery in Seoul. Then when his health deteriorated he moved into the infirmary of the Abbey in 2009 where he lived until his death. He died at the age of 88 years of a heart attack at Fatima Hospital in Daegu on 13 January at 10:15. Thanks to God Brother Benedict could spend his long years in the infirmary without enduring much pain. As a man of deep faith and yearning for the peace of heaven he was well prepared when he died. We pray that Brother Benedict may find true happiness in the Lord and ask you also to do so.

The funeral mass for Bro. Benedict was celebrated on 17 January 2022 at 2 pm at the Abbey Church. Afterwards was the burial in the graveyard of the Abbey.

Lord, give eternal peace to Brother Benedict and may eternal light illuminate him.

Abbot Blasio (Hyun-dong) Park and the community of Waegwan Abbey, South Korea