Sharing the lecture video held on August 24.

An Adventurous Life: The Journeys of St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon seen through his Letters

Speaker: Brother Anthony of Taizé

Summary:
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon in 1821. He was the first Korean-born Catholic priest and is the patron saint of Korean clergy. Kim was canonized with 102 other martyrs on 6 May 1984. Between 1842 and his death in 1846 he wrote a series of letters, all but one of them addressed to the French priests who had been educating him in Macao or who were preparing to become missionaries in Korea. He had left Korea by land late in 1836 with two other young Koreans and reached Macao in June 1837. He only began writing the letters, originally in Latin though 2-3 have survived only in French translations, after leaving Macao in search of ways of entering Korea. After being ordained a priest, he finally entered Korea in the autumn of 1845, having made 2 short visits previously. In June 1846 he was arrested during a visit to islands on the west coast, He was able to write 2 more letters to his French colleagues, and a final message in Korean addressed to the Christians of Korea. Finally he was executed as a traitor on September 16, 1846, aged only 25.

Bio:
Brother Anthony was President of RAS Korea until the end of 2020. He has been preparing English translations of the letters of St Andrew Kim Dae-geon, which are to be published in Seoul to mark the bicentenary of his birth.