Christianity had a unique beginning in Korea, brought from Peking by Korean laymen, scholars who had accepted it as a gift of God. Maryknoll Sisters’ unique beginning started when their Foundress, Mother Mary Joseph Rogers arrived in Shingishu by train from Manchuria, and was whisked to the catechist’s two-room house for a Mass where she made her final vows as a Maryknoll Sister on February 15, 1924, in the presence of about fifty poor Koreans. At the Maryknoll Fathers' invitation, the first group of six Sisters began their work in October 1924 in Uiju, in northern Korea.

In the Japanese occupation, the Maryknoll Sisters served the Japanese Christians as well as the Koreans in pastoral and medical ministries and industrial training for women. Their work extended to other cities, including Pyongyang, where forty-one Sisters worked. Sister Agneta Chang was assigned as novice mistress to a new local religious community, Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and remained with them throughout World War II. When the U.S. entered the war, ten American Sisters were deported, leaving Sisters of other nationalities to continue the work.

At the request of a Korean bishop, a group of Sisters returned to Korea in 1949 and began medical work in Pusan. When the Korean War broke out June 25, 1950, the Sisters were evacuated to Japan.  Sister Agneta Chang was taken away in a cart by Communist soldiers on Oct. 4, 1950, never to be heard from again.

In the midst of the war in March, 1951, Sister Mercy Hirschboeck and a medical team returned to minister to the tremendous flood of suffering refugees, attending more than two thousand patients a day in the Pusan clinic. When North Korea blocked all Christian missioners from re-entry, the Maryknoll Sisters expanded their ministries and locations in South Korea, opening a hospital and nursing school. Sister Gabriella Mulherin established the first Credit Union in Pusan, which soon spread to the whole country. Other ministries included Peace and Justice movements, conditions for workers, and the defense of abused women. Over the years, 123 Maryknoll Sisters lived in and loved Korea.