#stpaulchonghasang

[thedavekim]

"I have told you that I am a Christian, and will be one until my death."

St Paul Chong Hasang; one of the Korean Martyrs. Martyred in 1839. Wrote the first Roman Catholic catechism in Korean.

[anastpaul]

Saints of the Day – 20 September – Martyrs of Korea: St Andrew Kim Taegon, St Paul Chong Hasang & Companions – 103 saints and beati.   The Korean Martyrs were the victims of religious persecution against Catholic Christians during the 19th century in Korea.  At least 8,000 (as many as 10,000) adherents to the faith were killed during this period, 103 of whom were canonised en masse in May 1984 by St Pope John Paul. 

 St Andrew Kim Taegon was born to the Korean nobility;  his parents were converts to Christianity and his father was martyred.   Andrew was baptised at age 15, then travelled 1,300 miles to the nearest seminary in Macao, China.   He became the first native Korean priest and the first priest to die for the faith in Korea.   He was the leader of the Martyrs of Korea.   (21 August 1821, Solmoi, Chungcheong-do, South Korea – tortured and beheaded on 16 September 1846 at Saenamteo, Seoul, Korea).   He is the Patron of the Korean clergy. 

 St Paul Chong Hasan was the son of Yak Jong Church who was martyred in 1801 in the persecution of Shin-Yu, an attack on the faith that killed all the clergy in the country.   Son of Saint Yu Cecilia;  brother of Saint Jung Hye.   Paul, though a layman, reunited the scattered Christians and encouraged them to keep their faith and live their faith.   He wrote the Sang-Je-Sang-Su which explained to the Korean government why the Church was no threat to them.   He crossed into China nine times, working as a servant to the Korean diplomatic corps.   There he worked to get the bishop of Beijing to send more priests to Korea.   He pleaded directly to Rome for help and on 9 September 1831, Pope Gregory X proclaimed the validity of the Korean Catholic diocese.   When the clergy began to return, Paul entered the seminary.   However, he died in the Gi Hye persecution of 1839 before he could be ordained.   He is regarded as one of the great founders of the Catholic Church in Korea.   (1795 in Korea – martyred on 22 September 1839).  He is the Patron of the Catholic Laity and various apostolates and movements in Korea.

Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and 101 Companions:

The Christian community first began to take shape when Yi Sung-hun started to study Christian doctrine by himself and was eventually baptised and given the name Peter in 1784.   Because of their belief in the Christian God, the first Korean Christians were persecuted repeatedly, rejected by their families and suffered a loss of their social rank. Despite persecutions, the faith continued to spread.

The Christian community in Korea was given the assistance of two Chinese priests but their ministry was short-lived and another forty years passed before the Paris Foreign Mission Society began its work in Korea with the arrival of Father Mauban in 1836.   A delegation was selected and sent to Beijing on foot, 750 miles, in order to ask the Bishop of Beijing to send them bishops and priests.   The same appeal was made to the Holy Father in Rome.   Serious dangers awaited the missionaries who dared to enter Korea. The bishops and priests who confronted this danger, as well as the lay Christians who aided and sheltered them, were in constant threat of losing their lives.

In fact, until the granting of religious liberty in Korea in 1886, there was a multitude of “disciples who shed their blood, in imitation of Christ Our Lord and who willingly submitted to death, for the salvation of the world” (Lumen Gentium, 42).   Among those who died and later labelled as martyrs, were eleven priests and ninety-two lay people who would be canonised as saints.

Bishop Laurent Imbert and ten other French missionaries were the first Paris Foreign Mission Society priests to enter Korea and to embrace a different culture for the love of God.   During the daytime, they kept in hiding but at night they travelled about on foot attending to the spiritual needs of the faithful and administering the sacraments.

The first Korean priest, Andrew Kim Tae-gon, prompted by his faith in God and his love for the Christian people, found a way to make the difficult task of a missionary entry into Korea.  However, just thirteen months after his ordination he was put to death by the sword when he was just 26 years old and the holy oils of ordination were still fresh on his hands.Paul Chong Ha-sang, Augustine Yu Chin-gil and Charles Cho Shin-chol had made several visits to Beijing in order to find new ways of introducing missionaries into Korea. Since the persecution of 1801, there had been no priest to care for the Christian community. Finally, they succeeded in opening a new chapter in the history of the extension of the Church in Korea with the arrival of a bishop and ten priests of the Paris Foreign Mission Society. 

Among the martyrs honoured were fifteen virgins, including the two sisters Agnes Kim Hyo-ju and Columba Kim Hyo-im who loved Jesus with undivided heart (I Cor.7, 32–34).   These women, in an era when Christian religious life was still unknown in Korea, lived in community and cared for the sick and the poor.   Similarly, John Yi Kwang-hyol died a martyr’s death after having lived a life of celibacy in consecrated service to the Church.

It is also important to recall in a special way some of the other martyrs who were canonised that day:  Damien Nam Myong-hyok and Maria Yi Yon-hui were models of family life;  John Nam Chong-sam, though of high social rank, was a model of justice, chastity and poverty;  John Pak Hu-jae who, after he lost his parents in the persecutions, learnt to survive by making straw sandals;  Peter Kwon Tug-in who devoted himself to meditation;  Anna Pak A-gi who, although she did not have a deep grasp of Christian doctrine, was wholly devoted to Jesus and His Blessed Mother;  and finally, Peter Yu Tae-chol who at the tender age of 13, bravely confessed his faith and died a martyr. 

More than 10,000 martyrs died in persecutions which extended over more than one hundred years.  Of all these martyrs, seventy-nine were beatified in 1925.   They had died in the persecutions of 1839 (Ki-hae persecution), 1846 (Pyong-o persecution) and 1866 (Pyong-in persecution). In addition, twenty-four martyrs were beatified in 1968.   All together, 103 martyrs were canonised on 6 May 1984-on the shores of the Han River and in view of the martyrs’ shrines at Saenamto and Choltusan, where they went to their eternal reward - ALL THE NAMES ARE here https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/saints-of-the-day-20-september-martyrs-of-korea-st-andrew-kim-taegon-st-paul-chong-hasang-companions-103-saints-and-beati/

(via AnaStpaul – Breathing Catholic)

[anastpaul]

Thought for the Day – The Memorial of the Korean Martyrs – Sts Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang & Companions – 103 saints and beati

For centuries, Catholicism was often seen as a threat to Korean customs and traditions, so Christianity took root in Korea only after much struggle and effort.   But when it did begin to take root, those roots were strong.

Saint Andrew’s own Father had been martyred when he was a young boy but this did not dissuade him from become a priest, in fact, it strengthened his vocation.   As a priest he helped other missionaries to come to Korea to spread the Gospel but this was soon discovered.   So he was was captured, tortured and killed for his faith, when it was discovered that he smuggled missionaries into Korea from China.   St Paul Chong also risked his life many times making repeated trips to China to find priests to come to serve the young Korean Church.

At their 1984 canonization ceremony, Blessed John Paul II called Saint Andrew Kim, Saint Paul and their 111 companions “the leaven” that lead to the splendid flowering of the Church in Korea. How are we called to be “leaven” today—the leaven that will lead to the flowering of the Church in our own land?   What will we do today that will lead souls to Christ?   What will our Christian witness look like today in our own limited capacity?

Andrew wrote to his fellow Christians the following words:  “We have received baptism, entrance into the Church, and the honour of being called Christians. Yet what good will this do us if we are Christians in name only and not in fact?”   How easy it is to fall into this nominal Christianity, when we fail to allow our faith to influence our conduct, our attitude.

Through the martyrdom and intercession of Andrew Kim, Paul Chong and all the Martyrs for Christ, may God grant us the strength that we too may remain faithful to God’s commandments even unto death, for the glory of God and salvation of souls. (Fr Kevin Estabrook)

Today there are approximately four million Catholics in Korea and has the fourth largest number of saints in the Catholic world.   Since 1984, Paul Yun Ji-Chung and 123 companions were declared “Venerable” on 7 February 2014 and on 16 August 2014, they were beatified by Pope Francis during the Asian Youth Day in Gwanghwamun Plaza, Seoul, South Korea.   There are further moves to beatify Catholics who were killed by communists for their faith in the 20th century during the Korean War.

Holy Martyrs of Korea, Pray for us!

(via AnaStpaul – Breathing Catholic)

[anastpaul]

Holy Martyrs of Korea, Pray for us! - 20 September

[anastpaul]

One Minute Reflection – 20 September – The Memorial of the Korean Martyrs – Sts Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang & Companions – 103 saints and beati

Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?…Luke 24:26 

 REFLECTION – “The Korean Martyrs have borne witness to the crucified and risen Christ.   Through the sacrifice of their own lives they have become like Christ in a very special way.   The words of Saint Paul the Apostle could truly have been spoken by them: We are “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies . . . We are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”. The death of the martyrs is similar to the death of Christ on the Cross because like His, theirs has become the beginning of new life.   This new life was manifested not only in themselves – in those who underwent death for Christ – but it was also extended to others.   It became the leaven of the Church as the living community of disciples and witnesses to Jesus Christ   “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians”:   this phrase from the first centuries of Christianity is confirmed before our eyes.”…St Pope John Paul on the occasion of the Canonisation of the Korean Martyrs (1984)

PRAYER – O God our Holy Father, You have created all nations and You are their salvation. In the land of Korea Your call to Catholic faith formed a people of adoption, whose growth You nurtured by the blood of Andrew, Paul and their companions. Through their martyrdom and their intercession grant us strength that we too may remain faithful to your commandments even until death. Amen

(via AnaStpaul – Breathing Catholic)