September 20 - St. Andrew Kim Taegon, born in 1821 and died (executed) in 1846, was a Korean Catholic priest. The first Korean to be ordained a priest, he died for the faith during the years of 19th century persecution of Catholics in his country (1839-1867).

Kim Taegon (or Tae-gon) is from a family in Yangban; his father Ignace Kim Che-jun (Saint Ignace Kim) and his mother converted to Christianity. His father was martyred in 1839 and was canonized in 1984, at the same time as his son.

Kim Taegon was baptized at the age of 15 by Father Pierre Maubant, a member of the Foreign Missions of Paris and took the name André. He then studied at the seminary of Macao, then a Portuguese colonial trading post on the edge of China. After nine years, he was ordained a priest there (1845) by the French bishop Jean Joseph Ferréol. In spite of the dangers he knew he was running, André Kim returned to his country to support religiously and pastorally the Catholics who had been severely tested by years of persecution. Under the Joseon dynasty, many of them lost their lives because of their Christian faith.

Understanding the local mentality, he had a fruitful apostolate. In 1846, Bishop Ferréol asked him to send letters to Europe via the bishop of Beijing. But while boarding a Chinese ship, he was accidentally discovered and arrested. Questioned by the Mandarin, he was condemned to prison. Being from a noble family, the governor asks him to renounce his God, but he refuses to apostasize, in spite of the torture. After being tortured, he was beheaded in 1846, at the age of 25. He is best known among the 103 Martyrs of Korea. This group is generally referred to as "Saint Andrew Kim and his companions," who were canonized on May 6, 1984 by Pope John Paul II in Seoul, the first canonization ceremony outside the Vatican.