The marble statue of Korean saint Father Kim Dae Gun will be placed in a niche on the outer wall of St. Peter’s Basilica on the 16th.
(Vatican News) A marble sculpture of Father Kim Taegon, South Korea’s first priest and martyr, will be installed in a niche on the outer wall of St. Peter’s Basilica on September 16. This day is the day when Father Kim Dae Gun was martyred. The idea of placing the statue in the Vatican began during the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the saint’s birth and was supported and promoted by the Korean Bishops’ Conference. On this occasion, a delegation of about 300 believers from the Korean Church will come to the Vatican on the 16th, including bishops, priests, religious, nuns and lay people. On the morning of that day, Pope Francis will privately receive Korean believers.
Cardinal Yu Heung-sik, prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship, will hold a Korean Mass for believers from South Korea at 3 pm on the 16th in St. Peter’s Basilica. At 4:30 pm that day, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archbishop of St. Peter’s Basilica, will preside over the grand blessing and unveiling ceremony of the statue of Father Saint Jin Dajian.
The statue is 4 meters high and weighs about 6 tons. It was carved by Korean sculptor Han Jin-Sub from marble produced in Carrara, Italy.
Father Kim Dae-geon was born in 1821 and was baptized at the age of 15. He later studied in a monastery in Macau and was ordained a priest in 1845, becoming the first Korean Catholic priest. During the reign of the Joseon Dynasty, he was arrested and persecuted for spreading the gospel, and was martyred on September 16, 1846, when he was only 25 years old. When Pope John Paul II visited South Korea in 1984, he canonized 103 martyrs as saints, one of whom was Father Kim Dae-geon.
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2023-09-12 11:08:07
