Korean Martyrs

The 103 canonized saints include a large majority of laypeople alongside a few pastors. Among them are three bishops of the Paris Foreign Missions Society—Laurent Imbert, Siméon-François Berneux, and Antoine Daveluy—as well as several French priests from the same institute, including Pierre Maubant and Jacques Chastan, who were beheaded in Seoul in September 1839. The most famous figure is Andrew Kim Taegon (Kim Tae-gon), born in 1821 into a converted noble family whose father was himself a martyr. Sent to study in Macau with the Foreign Missions, he became in 1845, in Shanghai, the first Korean Catholic priest, ordained by Bishop Jean-Joseph Ferréol. Having returned clandestinely to organize the entry of other missionaries, he was arrested, tortured, and then beheaded on September 16, 1846, at about twenty-five years of age, near Seoul, on the banks of the Han River. Paul Chong Hasang, a layman and catechist, had for his part made numerous trips to Beijing to obtain priests; he perished during the persecution of 1839. All refused to abjure.

The holiness recognized in these martyrs stems first from the constancy of their faith in the face of a persecution that left them the choice of apostasy. Many were recent converts, instructed by lay catechists in the absence of clergy, and their fidelity unto death manifested the maturity of a Church that was nonetheless very young. In his final exhortation written in prison to his faithful, Andrew Kim Taegon called upon them to remain Christians not in name only but in truth, and to persevere in fraternal charity; this text, preserved in the mission archives, is read each year at the Office of Readings on September 20. The courage of these martyrs, some of whom were adolescents, and the serenity of their final moments struck witnesses and nurtured a reputation for holiness that only grew as the Korean Church emerged from clandestinity. Their blood was, according to the traditional formula, a seed of Christians.

Official recognition took place in stages. A first group of 79 martyrs, from the persecutions of 1839 and 1846, was beatified in Rome by Pope Pius XI on July 5, 1925. A second group of 24 martyrs, all victims of the persecution of 1866, was beatified by Blessed Paul VI on October 6, 1968. Both groups, totaling 103 people, were canonized collectively by Pope John Paul II during his apostolic journey to Korea on May 6, 1984, at Yeouido (Seoul). The ceremony held particular significance: it marked the bicentenary of the arrival of Christianity in Korea and constituted the first canonization celebrated by the Pope outside of Rome. The liturgical feast of Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and their companions, martyrs, is set for September 20 in the General Roman Calendar, as an obligatory memorial.

The testimony of the 103 martyrs is considered the foundation of the Catholic Church in Korea, which is today one of the most vibrant in Asia. Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, the first Korean priest, has become its emblematic figure and the patron saint of the Korean clergy; numerous parishes, seminaries, and institutions bear his name, both in Korea and in the diaspora. Shrines perpetuate their memory at the very sites of their martyrdom, notably at Saenamteo, on the banks of the Han River in Seoul, and at the Solmoe Shrine, the birthplace of Andrew Kim, as well as at Jeoldusan ('the hill of the severed heads') where many faithful perished in 1866. On September 20, their feast is celebrated by the universal Church. Beyond Korea, they have become a symbol of the faith of the laity and of persecuted Churches; Korean communities throughout the world honor them as their fathers in the faith.