Andrew Kim Taegon
Korean Catholic saint (1821–1846)
Andrew Kim Taegon (21 August 1821 – 16 September 1846), also referred to as Andrew Kim in English, was the first Korean Catholic priest and is the patron saint of Korean clergy.
Biography
In the late 18th century, Catholicism began taking root in Korea, having been introduced by scholars who visited China and brought back Western books translated into Chinese. In 1836 Korea saw its first consecrated missionaries (members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society) arrive, only to find out that the people there were already practicing Korean Catholics.
Born into the aristocratic Gimhae Kim clan (Yangban) Kim's parents were converts and his father, uncles, and grandfathers were subsequently martyred for practising Christianity, a prohibited activity in heavily Confucian Korea. After being baptized at age 15, Kim studied at a seminary in the Portuguese colony of Macau. He also spent time in studying at Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines, where today he is also venerated. He was ordained a priest in Shanghai after nine years (1844) by the French bishop Jean-Joseph-Jean-Baptiste Ferréol. He then returned to Korea to preach and evangelize. During the Joseon period, Catholicism was suppressed and many were persecuted and executed. Catholics had to practise their faith covertly.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q343569. VIAF identifies the subject as 70352559. The Library of Congress control number is n85047605. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1821, 1846, 1836 and 1844.
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This entry incorporates text from “Andrew Kim Taegon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.