Tributes have been paid in both Ireland and South Korea to a
Dublin-born Columban missionary priest who became a world expert in
Korean art.
Fr Frank Mullany’s efforts to absorb the culture of his host country
drew him to study its art, in particular the ink brush painting that was
an important strand of that culture dating back to the fourteenth
century and the Choson Dynasty in Korea.
He became an expert on the
subject, which culminated in him publishing, in 2006, a book entitled Symbolism in Korean Ink Brush Painting that is regarded as the authoritative history and appraisal of it.
Leaving aside the significance of Fr Mullany’s work from an art
academic point of view, it is also regarded as one of the most important
books to emanate from the Columban order.
Born in Dublin in September 1931, he was educated in national Schools
in Clontarf and in Ballina, Co, Mayo, to where his family moved.
He
subsequently attended St Muredach’s College in Ballina and St. Jarlath’s
College, Tuam before joining the Columbans in 1949.
Following his ordination in December 1955, Fr Mullany was among nine
Columbans posted to the mission in Kwangju diocese in the province of
Chollanamdo in South Korea.
The Columbans’ mission in Korea had been
launched a mere sixteen years earlier and seven of its men had been
killed in the 1950-53 Korean Civil War.
Along with his colleagues, Fr Mullany had to grapple with a very
unfamiliar culture and new language but he relished studying both.
In
the immediate post-war era, life was difficult and the provision and
management of relief supplies was a major priority of the Columbans.
Fr Mullany found himself generally on his own in rural parishes, and
is recalled to have been remarkable in developing many skills, becoming a
self-taught engineer and builder. He also served terms as the
Columbans’ Regional Bursar in Seoul and Secretary to the Columban
General Council before returning to Kwangju to work in a number of
parishes until he retired to Ireland in 1999, when he reached 68.
He maintained his personal interest in Korean language and culture
and in 1985 went back to formal language studies at Yonsei University. In retirement, he focused his attention back to the Korean art in which
he had immersed himself for fifty years and seven years on, his book on
the subject was published.
The book, illustrated with 200 colour plates, explores the vast
heritage of Korean ink brush painting, explaining hidden messages and
symbolism within it.
Korea had been late to open to outside world and from 1910 on, when
it was annexed by Japan, its language and culture were suppressed.
Liberation in 1945 was quickly followed by civil war and in the period
of reconstruction afterwards, faced a challenge to retrieve its cultural
tradition, of which ink brush painting was a unique part.
Fr Mullany died in the Columban Nursing Home in Dalgan Park, Navan,
where his funeral and burial also took place.
Among the first to pay
their respects following his death was South Korea’s Ambassador to
Ireland, Chang-yeob Kim.