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Andrew Kim Tae-gon was born on 21 August 1821, in
Chungchong Province, Korea. His parents, being converts
to Catholicism, were subject to persecution, to avoid
which they moved to Kyonggi Province. At 15 years old,
Kim Tae-gon was chosen by a visiting priest to be a
seminarian, and was sent with two other seminarians to
Macao. He arrived in 1873 and began his studies with the
missionaries of the Far Eastern Procure of the Parish
Foreign Mission Society. In 1842 Kim Tae-gon left Macao
as an interpreter for a French admiral aboard a warship.
When the admiral returned to France, Kim Tae-gon tried
to return to his homeland through the strictly guarded
norther frontier, but he failed. He was ordained a
deacon in China in 1844 and managed to return to Korea
the next year, arriving in Seoul early in 1845. He then
led the French missionaries by sea to Shanghai, where
Bishop Ferreol ordained him the first Korean priest in
the Church’s 60-year history in Korea. He returned to
Korea with Bishop Ferreol, reaching Chungchong Province
in October of the same year. In his home town and
vicinity, he catechized the faithful, until Bishop
Ferreol summoned him to Seoul. At the Bishop's command,
he tried to introduce French missionaries from China
into Korea, enlisting the aid of Chinese fishermen. For
this, Father Kim Tae-gon was arrested and sent to the
central prison in Seoul, where was charged as the
ringleader of a heretical sect and traitor to his
country. He was sentenced to death and was beheaded on
16 September 1846. He was beatified by Pope Pius XI in
1925, and canonized by Pope John-Paul II on 6 May 1984.
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