Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn, priest and martyr and Saint Paul Chŏng Hasang, martyr, and their companions, martyrs
Patron saint of Korean
clergy
Feast day – September 20
This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean
converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839
and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled
1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to
return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow
Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to
arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the
border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River
near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and married man,
aged 45.
Christianity came to
Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized,
probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because
Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for bringing taxes
to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian
literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to
study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a
dozen years later, he found 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a
priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came
in 1883.
When Pope John Paul II
visited Korea in 1984 he canonized, besides Andrew and Paul, 98 Koreans and
three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among
them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47
women, 45 men.
Among the martyrs in 1839
was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced with
hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed
and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not
molested. After Columba complained about the indignity, no more women were
subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of 13, Peter Ryou, had his flesh
so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He
was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old noble, apostatized
under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was
tortured to death.
Today, there are almost
4.7 million Catholics in Korea.
Sources for this article were taken from
Prayer
Through
the intercession of St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and St. Paul Chong Ha-sang and their
companions, we pray for the church, may the Holy Spirit unite the body of
Christ and inspire us to encourage one another through prayerful solidarity, we
pray for the Church in Korea, may the example of these early martyrs continue
to strengthen the Christian community there, inspiring them to share the good
news of Jesus Christ in a myriad of ways. Amen.
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