Saints Augustine Yi Kwang-hon, Agatha Kim A-gi and Companions

Saints Augustine Yi Kwang-hon, Agatha Kim A-gi and Companions are nine Korean lay Christians, three men and six women, beheaded together in Seoul on May 24, 1839. They belong to the 103 holy Korean Martyrs. The Roman Martyrology commemorates them on May 24, the day of their death, and together with the other martyrs of Korea the Church honors them on September 20.

The Church in Korea was founded by lay people alone, and during its first half century only two priests from China served the faithful, and only for a short time. The Koreans welcomed the first missionaries from France in 1836. In the spring of 1839 a new persecution broke out. A catechumen whose wife had been arrested and would not renounce her faith then gave the police the names of fifty-three Christians.

Among them was Augustine Yi Kwang-hon, of a noble family that had given the Church many martyrs in 1801. In his youth he had led a loose life, but after his conversion he changed completely, and his wife Barbara Kwon Hui embraced the faith together with him. He was a catechist and led many to Christ. In his house Sacred Scripture was read and the sacraments were received.

The police arrested the entire families of Augustine and of the catechist Damian Nam Myong-hyok. At Damian’s house they found the liturgical vestments and the miter of Bishop Laurent Imbert, Vicar Apostolic of Korea. Damian testified that they had belonged to a priest killed in 1801, and the judge, though he knew this was untrue, did not press further. Peter Kwon Tug-in made and sold small crosses and medals. Lucy Pak Hui-sun had once been a lady of the royal court; after coming to know the faith, she pleaded illness and left the palace. Anna Pak A-gi did not renounce her faith, although her husband and son did.

Already waiting in prison were four women sentenced to death years before: Agatha Yi So-sa, Magdalene Kim Ob-i, Barbara Han A-gi and Agatha Kim A-gi. Agatha Yi was the sister of Saint Peter Yi Ho-yong, who died in prison half a year before her. Barbara Han and Magdalene Kim had taught the faith to pagans and cared for the sick. Agatha Kim was baptized only in prison.

When the royal council confirmed the sentences after three days of deliberation, Damian wrote to his imprisoned wife that this world is only an inn and our true homeland is heaven. On Friday, May 24, 1839, at three in the afternoon, the hour of Christ’s death, the nine condemned were beheaded outside the Small West Gate of Seoul. Their bodies lay at the place of execution for three days; afterward Bishop Imbert managed to bury them. He wrote that in them the Church had gained many intercessors in heaven.

In the following months Augustine’s brother, wife and seventeen-year-old daughter, who are also saints today, were killed as well, and on September 21 so was Bishop Imbert. Pius XI beatified the nine martyrs on July 5, 1925, and John Paul II canonized them on May 6, 1984, in Seoul together with the other 94 martyrs of Korea.