Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, Saint Paul Chong Hasang and companions

<p>In the early 1600s, Christian communities began to flourish in Korea under the leadership of lay people. In 1836, missionaries from France, members of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, secretly entered the country. The Christian communities began to encounter hostility and, during the persecutions of the mid-19th century, over 10,000 Christians were killed. Andrew Kim, the first Korean priest, was one of these. Paul Chong, a seminarian and catechist, was one of the many lay people who suffered. These and 101 other Korean martyrs, clergy and lay, young and old, were canonized in 1984.<br /></p>
<p>©2011 <em>Living with Christ, </em>Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., <strong>http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/</strong&gt;. Reprinted with permission.</p>