Andrew Kim Taegon

St. Andrew Kim Taegon ( born August 21, 1821 in Taegon, Korea, † September 16, 1846 in Seoul) was Korea's first Roman Catholic priest.

The Catholic faith was - starting with the beginning of the seventeenth century - first brought mainly by laymen to Korea. Only in the middle of the eighteenth century, the first missionaries came to Korea, which already vorfanden Christians to their surprise.

Kim Taegon comes from a Korean noble family. His parents were converts and his father later suffered because of his persecuted in Confucian Korea Christian faith martyred. Kim studied in a seminary in Macao, and was ordained six years later in Shanghai as a priest. He then returns to Korea to preach and proclaim the gospel.

During the Joseon dynasty Christianity was harshly suppressed, and many Christians were persecuted and executed. Kim Taegon was one of several thousand Christians who were executed during this period. Therefore, Catholics had to practice in secret their faith. Kim Taegon in 1846 initially tortured at the age of 25 years and then beheaded.

1925 Andrew Kim Taegon was beatified. On May 6, 1984, Pope John Paul II spoke to him along with 102 other Korean martyrs holy, including Paul Chong Hasang. His feast day is 20 September. Andrew Kim Taegon is the patron of the Korean clergy and the Pontifical Korean College in Rome. A memorial is located in Jeoldusan ( Hill of the Martyrs ), Seoul.