Ordinary Time: September 20th
Memorial of Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gon, Priest, and Paul Chong Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Other Commemorations: St. Eustace, martyrs (RM) ; Other Titles: Eustachius
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Entrance Antiphon:
The blood of the holy Martyrs was poured out for Christ upon the earth; therefore they have gained everlasting rewards.
Communion Antiphon, Mt 10:32:
Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father, says the Lord.
Today is the Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs. During the 17th century the Christian faith was brought to Korea through the zeal of lay persons. From the very beginning these Christians suffered terrible persecutions and many suffered martyrdom during the 19th century. Today's feast honors a group of 103 martyrs. Notable of these were Andrew Kim Taegon, the first Korean priest, and the lay apostle, Paul Chong Hasang. Also among the Korean martyrs were three bishops and seven priests, but for the most part they were heroic laity, men and women, married and single of all ages. They were canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II on May 6, 1984.
The Roman Martyrology also commemorates St. Eustace and his companions (d. 188). He was a martyr whose cult was introduced at Rome in the early Middle Ages and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.St. Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Paul Chong Hasang and their companionsThis first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After baptism at the age of fifteen, Andrew traveled thirteen hundred miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and a married man, aged forty-five. Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for an annual journey to Beijing to pay taxes. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found four thousand Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were ten thousand Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.

- Study the emphasis of the role of the laity in the Church especially in this century, and decide on things you can do as a layperson to help your parish community.
- Read Pope John Paul II's homily at the canonization of the 103 Korean Martyrs, read about some of the other Korean martyrs.
St. Eustace and His CompanionsThe charming legend of Saint Eustace tells how a Roman general named Placidus was once out hunting. He pursued a noble stag, which suddenly turned and approached him. Between the stag's antlers Placidus saw a crucifix. A voice was calling him by name.
- Read the Golden Legend and images about St. Eustace.
- See the beautiful stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral depicting the life of St. Eustace.
- St. Eustace's story is similar to St. Hubert, also a patron of hunters. Depending on the cultural or geographical region would determine devotion to which hunter saint. See Fourteen Holy Helpers and November 3 for more details on St. Hubert.