SEOUL (UCAN): The Korean Institute of Church History has published a book of the letters of St. Andrew Kim Taegon as part of the jubilee year commemoration programme to mark the 200th birth anniversary of the country’s most popular martyred saint.
The 392-page volume, recently launched by Father Cho Han-geon, president of the institute, is the first fruit of a revised work that reflects new research carried out over 25 years for the biography of St. Andrew Kim published in 1996 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his martyrdom.
The institute decided to revise the three-volume biography for the saint’s 200th birth anniversary.
The new book is a collection of materials with exhaustive and translated versions of 19 of the 21 letters written by the saint to his father, a teacher and a local government official.
Some of the letters were composed in Latin and French, which were translated by Nicholas Cardinal Jeong Jin-seok, former archbishop of Seoul, Monsignor Choi Seok-woo and late priests, Father Choi Seung-ryong and Father Bae Se-young.
In this revised edition, the existing errors and Chinese characters have been corrected based on the latest research, while names of places were added and comments were supplemented. The translated and post-extracted texts have been organised separately for better and easy understanding.
Father Kim Taegon’s letters bravely testify to his faith and, as a priest and missionary he lived like a flame and lived with the spirit and breath of God’s call
Besides the book, the institute has also plans to revise and publish more biographical material on St. Andrew Kim as well as his lifetime activities, achievements, arrest and martyrdom.
Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul, lauded the publication of the saint’s letters and encouraged clergy, religious and laypeople to find spiritual strength reading them.
“Father Kim Taegon’s letters bravely testify to his faith and, as a priest and missionary he lived like a flame and lived with the spirit and breath of God’s call,” Cardinal Yeom said. “It is essential for the spiritual renewal of all the clergy, religious and believers in the Korean Church.”
Father Cho expressed appreciation of the senior priests for their patience and hard work behind the venture.
“While preparing for the revised edition, I was able to take a glimpse of the efforts of the senior priests who relied on a black and white copy and a magnifying glass to read and translate small letters during the publication of the first edition. I appreciate their dedicated work,” he said.
St. Andrew Kim (1821 to 1846) was the first Korean-born Catholic priest and is now the patron saint of Korea.
In 1984, during his visit to South Korea, Pope John Paul II canonised 103 martyrs including Andrew Kim, Ignatius Kim, Paul Chong and seven French missionaries who had been martyred in the 19th century.
South Korea has about 5.6 million Catholics out of a population of about 51 million.
