Saint Andrew Kim Taegon
Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gon
Priest and Martyr of Korea
Born	1821
Died	1846
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	1925
Canonized	6 May 1984
Major shrine	Chuldusan (Martyr's Mound), Seoul, South Korea
Feast	20 September (Roman calendar)
Patronage	Korean clergy,
Hangul	김대건
Hanja	金大乾
Revised Romanization	Kim Dae-geon
McCune-Reischauer	Kim Tae-gŏn

St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon was Korea's first Roman Catholic priest. In the early 17th century, Roman Catholicism in Korea was primarily introduced by laypeople. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that Korea saw its first missionaries arrive only to find out that the people there were already practicing Christianity. The coronation banquet for George IV 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... In Catholicism, beatification (from Greek μακαριος, makarios) is a recognition accorded by the church of a dead persons accession to Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name (intercession of saints). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article discusses the process of declaring saints. ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Link title:Shrine is also used as a conventional translation of the Japanese Jinja. ... Seoul (Sŏul|서울) ) is the capital and largest city of South Korea (Republic of Korea). ... The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more saints, and referring to the day as the saints day of that saint. ... In several forms of the church of Christianity, but especially in Roman Catholicism, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ... It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean (Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법; 國語의 로마字 表記法) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... Korea (Korean: (ì¡°ì„  or 한국, see below) is a geographical area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the southeast across the Korea Strait. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... In religious organizations , the laity comprises all lay persons, i. ...

Born out of Korean nobility, Kim Taegon's parents were converts and his father was subsequently martyred for practicing Christianity; a prohibited activity in heavily Confucian Korea. He studied at a seminary in Macau and was ordained a priest in Shanghai six years later. He then returned to Korea to preach and evangelize. The Yangban were a well educated scholarly class of male Confucian scholars who were part of the ruling elite within Korea prior to 1945 and the republics period of Korean history. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; pinyin: ; Shanghainese: ), situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is Chinas largest city by population. ...

During the Joseon Dynasty, Christianity was heavily suppressed and many Christians were persecuted and executed. Catholics had to covertly practice their faith. Kim Taegon was one of several thousands of Christians who were executed during this time. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded. The Joseon Dynasty was the final ruling dynasty of Korea, then called Joseon, lasting from 1392 until 1910. ...

On May 6, 1984 Pope John Paul II canonized Andrew Kim Taegon along with 102 other martyrs, including Paul Chong Hasang. His feast day is on September 20. The current Pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger), who was elected at the age of 78 on 19 April 2005. ... Official papal image of John Paul II. His Holiness Pope John Paul II, né Karol Józef Wojtyła (born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland), is the current Pope — the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. ... This article discusses the process of declaring saints. ... The Roman Catholic faith came to Korea at the beginning of the 17th century, primarily through the work of lay catechists. ...

See also

• Christianity in Korea
• Korean Martyrs
• Roman Catholicism in Korea

St. ... The Roman Catholic faith came to Korea at the beginning of the 17th century, primarily through the work of lay catechists. ... The Roman Catholic Church in Korea is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. ...

External links

• |Patron Saints Index: St. Andrew Kim
• |Facts about St. Andrew Kim
• |Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasan and his Companions