Francis Bae Gwan-gyeom
Korean martyr, catholic blessed
Feast: 31 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Francis Bae Gwan-gyeom is honoured together with others as The Korean Martyrs. From that page:
The Church in Korea was founded by lay people: around 1780 a scholar, Lee Byeok, read Matteo Ricci's book on the true doctrine of God brought from Beijing, embraced the faith and gathered the first community before any priest arrived. From 1802 the state banned Christianity and ordered Christians killed, and persecution went on until religious freedom came in 1882.
Among the thousands who died, 103 were canonised together, among them the first Korean-born priest, St Andrew Kim Taegon, martyred on 16 September 1846, and the lay catechist St Paul Chong Hasang, who walked to China fifteen times to beg for priests and was martyred on 22 September 1839.
Shared write-up of the group, until this page is written up in full.
The miracles
Limited information is available on this saint so far.
Why that counted as sanctity
Limited information is available on this saint so far.
The cause
Francis Bae Gwan-gyeom has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Korean Church: the cause of Francis Bae Gwan-gyeom.
Connected on this site
- The Korean Martyrs Saint honoured together
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - Martiri Coreani (Korean Martyrs, first generation) — Listed as no. 12: "Francesco Bae Gwan-gyeom, di 60 anni, ucciso il 7 gennaio 1800 a Cheongju". Beatified by Pope Francis at Seoul, 16 August 2014; group memorial 29 May. Also santiebeati.it/dettaglio/96450.
- Wikidata Q55393637 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Not yet written up in full. The Catholic source above names this person; the name, dates and step come from Wikidata and are not yet checked against Church records.