To Korea, the homeland of Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Catholic religion arrived late, but it was rooted immediately by spontaneous social movement – without the interference of abroad missionaries – which is an highly interesting phenomenon. Korea was a country confined to the remainder of the world, and its rulers and elites feared that no influence from the outside would disturb the order that had persisted for centuries. The only country with which Korea – until the 19th century – officially maintained contact was China.
Once a year, a delegation went to Beijing to pay tribute to the Chinese emperor. In the early 1880s, Li Sung-Hun took part in 1 of these expeditions. He came into contact with the Jesuit missionaries in China and was fascinated by their religion and baptized. He returned to Korea in 1784 as a zealous neophyte seeking to instill the fire of the apostolic religion in his homeland. shortly he was able to appoint and baptize his first disciples, though he himself did not accept priestly ordination. The year of his return is treated as the date of the beginning of the Church in Korea.
Li Sung-Hun smuggled as much Catholic literature as possible in Chinese, which he then translated and distributed among the first followers of Christ the Lord in his country. Among the books read were primarily Scripture and Catechism. Initially, it was a community composed only of lay ones who were baptized, prayed, and taught the revealed teaching. Their religion was rapidly put to the test – for not 1 Catholic priest had yet come to Korea erstwhile persecution of Christians began in 1791. The Catholic blood flowed for the first time during the 3 quarters of the century (the last persecution occurred in 1866) and was to fertilize the Korean Church abundantly.
A missionary from China was demanded all the time. A fewer years after the first persecution, a Catholic priest arrived and found 4 1000 Christians there. The community developed under constant threat of torture and death. In 1831 Pope Gregory XVI formed the Apostolic Vicar in Korea. Catholics continued to arrive, and many of them were inactive killed by beheading or asphyxiation. erstwhile the French missionaries arrived in Korea in the mid-19th century, they were amazed at the religion of the local community, whose zeal they compared to the apostolic era. The steadfast attitude of Korean Catholics has caused the Church to spread despite government ostracism, and they are now a large part of the population (more than 30 percent).
One of the tormented for faith, and at the same time the first priest of Korean origin – Andrzej Kim – came into the planet in a Catholic family, who had already laid merit in the expansion of the Warrior Kingdom, which is the Church on earth. His grandpa Pius Kim died in prison, where he was imprisoned for confessing the religion of Christ, and his father – Ignacy – was imprisoned for allowing his boy to go to a seminary in China. In prison, he was murdered and received the glory of altars.
Andrew set off for the seminary in 1837 and traveled many hundreds of kilometres before reaching the Chinese town of Macau. After respective years of formation, he accepted ordination in Shanghai and through Manchuria (where refugees went for economical and spiritual reasons) he returned to Korea with 2 French clergymen who later suffered martyrdom.
He was not given a long period of pastoral service. Apparently, the Lord God has seen the top usage of his priest... In 1846, at the request of the bishop of Seoul, he was active in preparing the French missionaries ’ journey to Korea. In June of that year, he was arrested on an island from which he was appointed to transport the clergy. He was tortured but did not renounce his faith. He was beheaded in the village of Saenamteo.
The patron saint of the Korean clergy was beatified by Pius XI in 1925, while John Paul II counted him among the saints in 1984, including 1 100 and 3 Korean martyrs.
The church remembers Andrzej Kim Tae-gŏn on September 20.
FO
