Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Holy Companions of the Day for September 20

(21 August 1821 - 16 September 1846; Compagni d. Between 1839 and 1867)

Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions' Story
The first native Korean priest, Andrew Kim Taegon was the son of Christian converts. After his baptism at the age of 15, Andrew traveled 1.300 miles to seminary in Macau, China. After six years, he managed to return to his country via Manchuria. In the same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to organize the entry of other missionaries by a waterway that would escape the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and eventually beheaded on the Han River near Seoul, the capital.

Andrew's father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred in the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. Paul Chong Hasang, a lay apostle and married man, also died in 1839 at the age of 45.

Among the other martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, a 26-year-old single woman. She was put in prison, pierced with hot tools and burned with hot coals. She and her sister Agnes were undressed and held for two days in a cell with convicted criminals but were not harassed. After Columba complained of humiliation, there were no more victims. The two were beheaded. Peter Ryou, a 13-year-old boy, had his flesh so badly torn that he could tear pieces and throw them to the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a 41-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was released. He later returned, confessed his faith and was tortured to death.

Christianity arrived in Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Japanese Christian soldiers. Evangelization has been difficult because Korea has refused any contact with the outside world except to take taxes in Beijing every year. On one such occasion, around 1777, Christian literature obtained by Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A house church started. When a Chinese priest managed to secretly enter a dozen years later, he found 4.000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10.000 Catholics. Religious freedom came to Korea in 1883.

In addition to Andrew and Paul, Pope John Paul II canonized 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867, when he went to Korea in 1984. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most were secular: 47 women and 45 men.

Reflection
We marvel that the Korean Church was strictly a secular Church for a dozen years after its birth. How did people survive without the Eucharist? It is not belittling this and other sacraments to realize that there must be a living faith before there can be a truly beneficial celebration of the Eucharist. The sacraments are signs of God's initiative and response to the faith already present. The sacraments increase grace and faith, but only if there is something ready to be increased.