St. Andrew Kim Taegon (Korean)

Saint Kim Taegon Andrew, generally referred to as Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, was the first Korean-born Catholic priest and is the patron saint of Korea. 

In the late 18th Century, Roman Catholicism began to take root slowly in Korea and was introduced by lay people. In 1836, Korea saw its first consecrated missionary members of the Foreign Missions Society arrive. They found out that the people there were already practicing Catholicism.

Born of Korea’s traditional ruling class, Kim’s parents converted to Catholicism which was prohibited heavily in Confucian Korea – his father was subsequently martyred for practicing Christianity. After baptism at age 15, Kim studied at a seminary in the Portuguese colony of Macau. During his seminary years, he also spent time in Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines, where his statue was erected in the village. He was ordained a priest in Shanghai in 1844, by the French bishop Jean-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Ferréol. After ordination, he returned to Korea to preach and evangelize.

In those days, the Joseon Dynasty ruled the country and Christianity was suppressed thereby causing many Christians to be persecuted and executed. Catholics had to covertly practice their faith. Kim was one of several thousand Christians who were executed during this time.