Free Republic

Saint of the Day - Saint Andrew Kim TaegonThe first native Korean priest, Andrew Kim Taegon was the son of Christian converts. Following his baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled 1,300 miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years, he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured, and finally beheaded at the Han...

ANDREW KIM TAEGON Also known asAndrew Kim Memorial20 SeptemberProfileKorean nobility; his parents were converts, his father a martyr. Andrew was baptized at age 15, then travelled 1,300 miles to the nearest seminary in Macao. He became Korea's first native priest, and the first priest to die for the faith in Korea. Leader of the Martyrs of Korea. BornKoreanDiedtortured and beheaded in 1846 at Seoul, KoreaBeatified1925Canonized6 May 1984 by Pope John Paul IIPatronageKorean clergyPrayersO God, You have created all nations and You are their salvation. In the land of Korea Your call to Catholic faith formed a people of adoption, whose...