THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH
KIM DAE GON, THE FIRST KOREAN SAINT
Paying respect to St. Kim Dae Gon
At the cliff, where all the Korean martyrs were said to be beheaded.
at the church holding a collection and dioramas dedicated to St. Kim Dae Gon and the 103 Korean Martyrs.
St. Andrew Kim Taegon (김대건 안드레아, Hanja: 金大建) was the first Korean-born Catholic priest. In the late 18th century, Roman Catholicism began to take root slowly in Korea,[1] and was introduced by laypeople. It was not until 1836 that Korea saw its first consecrated missionaries (members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society) arrive,[2] only to find out that the people there were already practicing Catholicism.
At the Church veranda, overlooking the statue of the first Korean Saint
Kim Dae Gon, Pray for us!
Born of yangban, Kim Taegon's parents were converts and his father was subsequently martyred for practising Christianity, a prohibited activity in heavily Confucian Korea. After being baptized at age 15, Andrew studied at a seminary in the Portuguese colony of Macau. He was ordained a priest in Shanghai after nine years (1845) by the French bishop Jean Joseph Ferréol. He then returned to Korea to preach and evangelize. During the Joseon Dynasty, Christianity was suppressed and many Christians were persecuted and executed. Catholics had to covertly practise their faith. Kim Taegon was one of several thousand Christians who were executed during this time. Before going back to Korea, he settled for sometime in Lolomboy in Bocaue, Bulacan. He now has a shrine and a parish named after him. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded near Seoul on the Han River. His last words were:
With the memorial of Blessed John Paull II
| “ | "This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively : if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death, because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have refused to know Him."[3] | ” |
Before Ferréol, the first Bishop of Korea, died from exhaustion on the third of February, 1853, he wanted to be buried beside Andrew Kim, stating, “You will never know how sad I was to lose this young native priest. I have loved him as a father loved his son; it is a consolation for me to think of his eternal happiness.”[4]
On May 6, 1984, Pope John Paul II canonized Andrew Kim Taegon along with 103 other Korean Martyrs, includingPaul Chong Hasang, during his trip to Korea. Their memorial is September 20.
References
- ^ Michael Walsh, ed. "Butler's Lives of the Saints" (HarperCollins Publishers: New York, 1991), p. 297.
- ^ The Liturgy of the Hours Supplement (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1992, pp. 17–18.
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=QMUCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA87&dq=%22barbara+ko%22#PPA118,M1
- ^ New World Encyclopedia
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