Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

Christianity came to Korea at the end of the 18th century through lay scholars who read Catholic books from China; one of them, Yi Seung-hun, was baptized in Beijing in 1784. Without priests, the laity built up the Church, and under the Joseon kingdom it was outlawed and persecuted in waves in 1791, 1801, 1839, 1846 and 1866, with thousands killed. Paul Chong Ha-sang, a layman, travelled again and again to Beijing to ask for priests and was executed in 1839. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, the son of a martyr, studied at Macau and in 1845 became the first Korean priest; caught while arranging the secret entry of missionaries, he was beheaded near Seoul on 16 September 1846, aged 25. John Paul II canonized 103 of the martyrs in Seoul in 1984.