A Birth. 2022. A Korean movie with embedded English subtitles. Courageous and inspiring true story of Catholics in Korea, and the man who became their first native born priest: St. Andrew Kim Taegon (1821–1846) Catholic priest and patron saint of the Korean clergy and Korea.
Kim Dae-Gun was the son of Catholic converts. Kim Dae-Gun was baptized by a French priest and he was selected to study theology by the priest in order to become the first Korean born priest. Kim Dae-Gun and his two fellow theology students, traveled to Macau, China to study (37 miles SW on Hong Kong) - a journey of 1,300 miles. Kim was the first Korean to receive a Western education and learn European languages. .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. The movie chronicles Kim's journey from his baptism at age 15 to his ordination in 1845 and subsequent martyrdom at age 25.
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 taking taxes to Beijing annually. 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 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. This movie shows the challenges faced by the first Christians of Korea, accused of collaborating with foreign enemies and disrespecting the king, and especially the situation with priests who had to be ready for martyrdom and death.
The last words of Andrew Kim Dae Gun: "I have held communication with foreigners only for my religion and my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is now on the point of birth."
St. Andrew Kim, and all you Korean Martyrs, Pray for us
Topic: Movies and Videos about the Catholic Faith (Read 63019 times)