Stephen Min Kuk-ka (1787 – 1840) is a Korean

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

saint. He was

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

by strangulation after refusing to deny his faith. His feast day is January 20, and he is also venerated along with the rest of the 103 Korean martyrs on September 20. Born in 1787 in a non-Christian sect of

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, his mother died soon after

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...

. With his brothers and father, he converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He married, but his wife died shortly after their wedding. A few years later, he remarried and his wife had a beautiful daughter. Both later died, leaving him alone once more. He decided to devote his life to Christ by becoming a

Catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

. This was risky: He lived in an era where the Confucian government did not approve of people spreading their own faiths. After a length of time in which he converted many people, he was taken into government custody. The government beat and tortured him, trying to get him to deny his faith. He refused many times over. In 1840, he paid for his conviction when he was strangled to death.

References

Sources

* St. Stephen Min Kuk-Ka. Online. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5993

Bibliography

''The Lives of the 103 Martyr Saints of Korea: Min Kŭk-ka Stephen (1788-1840)''
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea Newsletter No. 78 (Spring 2012). 1787 births 1840 deaths 19th-century Christian saints Converts to Roman Catholicism 19th-century Christian martyrs Korean Roman Catholic saints Canonizations by Pope John Paul II Joseon Christians {{Saint-stub