St. Andrew Kim Taegon was born in Korea and came from a very noble family.

Christianity reached Korea in the seventeenth century and was brought there by lay people. The believers became strong in their faith by reading and listening to the Word of God and began to grow in number.

Andrew’s parents who were earlier non-Christians converted and became Christians. Andrew was baptized when he was 15 years old and soon after, his father died as a martyr for the faith.

Missionary priests came from France and the Korean people began to receive the sacraments of the Church. Andrew traveled about 1,300 miles to Macao, which had the nearest seminary so he could study to become a priest.

The Government did not want Christianity to spread and began to trouble and torture the Christians.

A total of 113 Koreans & missionaries were killed between 1839 and 1867. St. Andrew was the first Korean to become a priest and first priest to die for the faith in Korea just a year after his ordination. That made him the leader of the Martyrs of Korea.

St. Paul Chong Hasang another Korean Catholic was a layperson and Catechist who also courageously died for the love for Christ.

These two martyrs gloriously represent the 113 Catholics who died for their faith in Korea. They were proclaimed saints by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Korea in 1984.

Today the Church is growing fast in Korea. The gift of faith is being received because of the sacrifice of the martyrs who showed them the way.

Thomas was born at Fuentellana, Castile in Spain. From his kind parents, he learned to be very charitable with the poor. He did well in school and became a teacher of philosophy when he finished his studies.

Then he joined the Augustinian order as a priest. After he became a priest, he was given many important responsibilities. Later, he was made archbishop of the city of Valencia.

His priests tried to convince him to change his old, mended habit (long robe that priests wear) for new and nicer robes. However, St. Thomas told them his old clothes had nothing to do witstyle="padding: 10px;"h his duty. He would take good care of the spiritual needs of his people.

Every day he fed hundreds of poor people. When he received a large sum of money to buy furniture for his house, he gave it to a hospital, saying, “What does a poor monk like me want with furniture?” No wonder he was called the “father of the poor”!

St. Thomas was very gentle with sinners at a time when most people were not. He encouraged rich people to be generous and follow his example too.

Once when he tried to encourage one man to change his sinful ways, the man angrily insulted him and stormed out of the room.

“It was my fault,” said the humble archbishop. “I told him a little too roughly.” Never would he permit anyone to criticize someone who wasn’t there. “He may have had a good reason for doing what he did,” the saint would say. “I, for one, believe he did.”

Before he died, St. Thomas of Villanova gave to the poor everything he had. He made sure that even his bed was sent to the jail for prisoners to use. St. Thomas died in 1555.