Yi Byeok decided at an early age not to study for the national examinations, which were necessary for a career in government administration.
It is likely that he brought back books written by the Jesuit missionaries (“Western Learning”), including those about Catholicism which Yi Byeok later studied.
[3] The writings of Seongho Yi Ik inspired many of the scholars who adopted the Practical Learning (Silhak) approach.
In the Jachan myojimyeong (autobiographical epitaph) written later by Dasan Jeong Yak-yong there is an account of a moment in April 1784 when Yi Byeok first told him about Catholicism and showed him a book.
His older brother Chŏng Yakjong was destined to become the main leader of the community along with Yi Seung-hun and died for his faith in the persecution of 1801.
The silk letter written in 1801 to the Bishop of Beijing by Alexander Hwang Sa-yeong included a lengthy account of the origins of the Korean church.
[9] Early in 1785, the growing group of believers and sympathizers moved their regular gatherings for worship from the house of Yi Byeok to that belonging to another convert, Kim Beom-u, on the hill where Myeongdong Cathedral now stands.
[11] Dallet[5] (Vol 1 pages 28–9) says that Yi Byeok was put under intense pressure from his father until finally, more or less, he gave up the faith.
[12] A different account of his death is given by Antton Iraola who reported that he died on 14 June 1785, after 15 days of constant prayer, during which he neither ate nor slept.
What seems clear is that his family, under strong pressure from the Confucian leaders that were hostile to the Namin and their newly found foreign faith, kept him more or less imprisoned in his home.
[13] Yi Byeok's life is poorly documented and the main source for much information about him is the rather dramatized account in Dallet's Histoire de l’église de Corée (2 vols, 1874), which relied heavily on translations of documents sent to France by Bishop Daveluy (Dallet, Histoire, Vol.1, Introduction, page xi).