Andrew Kim Taegon This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim. of the Catholic Church, p.118, Richardson and Son, Lon- don, 1859 Saint Kim Taegon Andrea (Hangul: , Hanja: ) (1821–1846), generally referred to as Saint An- drew Kim Taegon in English, was the first Korean-born 2 Bibliography Catholic priest and is the patron saint of Korea. In the late 18th century, Roman Catholicism began to take root • “The Lives of the 103 Korean Martyr Saints (2): slowly in Korea[1] and was introduced by laypeople. In St. Kim Tae-gon Andrew,” Catholic Bishops’ Con- 1836 Korea saw its first consecrated missionaries (mem- ference of Korea Newsletter No. 27 (Summer 1999). bers of the Paris Foreign Missions Society) arrive,[2] only to find out that the people there were already practicing Catholicism. 3 External links Born of yangban, Kim’s parents were converts and his fa- ther was subsequently martyred for practising Christian- • Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Com- ity, a prohibited activity in heavily Confucian Korea. Af- panions ter being baptized at age 15, Kim studied at a seminary • in the Portuguese colony of Macau. He also spent time in Saint Kim Dae Gon study at Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines, where a statue of him stands in a village. He was ordained a priest in Shanghai after nine years (1844) by the French bishop Jean-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Ferréol. He then re- turned 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 was one of several thousand Christians who were executed during this time. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded near Seoul on the Han River. His last words were: Before Ferréol, the first bishop of Korea, died from ex- haustion on 3 February 1853, he wanted to be buried be- side 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.”[3] On May 6, 1984, Pope John Paul II canonized Kim along with 102 other Korean Martyrs, including Paul Chong Hasang, during his trip to Korea. Their memorial is September 20. 1 References Statue of Saint Andrew Kim [1] Michael Walsh, ed. “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” (Harper- Tae-gon in the Collins Publishers: New York, 1991), p. 297. yard of Myeongdong Cathedral [2] The Liturgy of the Hours Supplement (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1992, pp. 17–18. [3] The Fathers of the London Oratory, tr., The New Glories 1 2 4 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses 4.1 Text • Andrew Kim Taegon Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Kim_Taegon?oldid=629904777 Contributors: Jondel, Jossi, Dis- cospinster, Adam850, MarkS, El C, Kross, Ricky81682, Cuchullain, DoubleBlue, Eubot, Chobot, YurikBot, Rsrikanth05, NawlinWiki, CaliforniaAliBaba, Ospalh, Nlu, SmackBot, Carl.bunderson, Afasmit, Bwpach, Courcelles, Cashie, Cydebot, Meno25, Marek69, Merkurix, Seaphoto, Fayenatic london, Magioladitis, Naniwako, Tanaats, Squids and Chips, Caspian blue, VolkovBot, Johnkelley1993, Zidonuke, Vip- inhari, John Carter, BOTijo, Dawn Bard, Ecthelion83, Sitush, Leeheonjin, Bagworm, Alexbot, Jusdafax, Runefrost, M3dan, Mintz0223, MystBot, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Chrisstacey, LaaknorBot, Kor martyr, Cor martyr, Numbo3-bot, Lightbot, Bernadeta, Zorrobot, Yobot, Ptbotgourou, Roltz, South Bay, AnomieBOT, Tangwingkin, Kladef077, Anonymous from the 21st century, Doksuri, Yusung86, Heavy- weight Gamer, Nashalonto, RjwilmsiBot, WikitanvirBot, RNAlonto, Illegitimate Barrister, Maliepa, Puffin, Roypeter347, ClueBot NG, Mannanan51, PhnomPencil, Steelerbro, Bagoto, Colmendrisio, Ulbig, Mastrodonato and Anonymous: 57 4.2 Images • File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist: ? • File:Korean_priest-Andrew_Kim_Taegon-02.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Korean_ priest-Andrew_Kim_Taegon-02.jpg License: CC-BY-2.0 Contributors: originally posted to Flickr as P3250040 Original artist: pcamp 4.3 Content license • Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.