St. Andrew Kim Taegon

St. Andrew Kim Taegon was born on 21 August 1821 at Solmoe in Korea, into a family of persecuted Catholic converts — his own father would also die a martyr. The Korean Church was remarkable in having been founded largely by lay believers before missionary priests arrived, and it endured fierce persecution under the Joseon dynasty. Andrew was baptized at fifteen and, discerning a call to the priesthood, made an arduous journey to study at a seminary in Macau, returning secretly to serve his homeland.

Ordained in 1845, he became the first native-born Korean Catholic priest. He labored in secret to minister to the faithful and to arrange the entry of more missionaries, but was soon captured, tortured, and beheaded near Seoul on 16 September 1846, at the age of twenty-five, encouraging his fellow Christians to remain faithful to the end. He was canonized in 1984 by Pope St. John Paul II among the 103 Korean Martyrs, and is honored as the patron of Korean clergy.