hanja rr article_title mr hangul
丁夏祥 바오로 jeong ha-sang baoro paul chong hasang
 chŏng hasang paoro 정하상 바오로
paul chong hasang

saint paul chong hasang -lrb- 1794 or 1795 -- september 22 , 1839 -rrb- was one of the korean martyrs .
his feast day is september 22 , and he is also venerated along with the rest of the 103 korean martyrs on september 20 .
he was the son of the martyr augustine jeong yak-jong and a nephew of noted philosopher john jeong yak-yong , who were among the first converts of korea , who wrote the first catechism for the roman catholic church in korea -lrb- entitled `` jugyo yoji '' -rrb- .
when yakjong was martyred with hasang 's older brother , yakjong 's wife and the remaining children were spared and went into a rural place ; hasang was seven years old .
when he grew up , hasang chose to become a servant of a government interpreter ; this enabled him to travel to beijing multiple times , where he entreated the bishop of beijing to send priests to korea , and wrote to pope gregory xvi via the bishop of beijing requesting the establishment of a diocese in korea .
this happened in 1825 .
some years later , bishop laurent-marie-joseph imbert and two priests were sent .
the bishop found hasang to be talented , zealous , and virtuous ; he taught him latin and theology , and was about to ordain him when a persecution broke out .
hasang was captured and gave the judge a written statement defending catholicism .
the judge , after reading it , said , `` you are right in what you have written ; but the king forbids this religion , it is your duty to renounce it . ''
hasang replied , `` i have told you that i am a christian , and will be one until my death . ''
after this hasang went through a series of tortures in which his countenance remained tranquil .
finally , he was bound to a cross on a cart and cheerfully met his death , at the age of 45 .
the korean martyrs are commemorated by the roman catholic church with a memorial on 20 september .
103 of them , including hasang , were canonized by pope john paul ii in 1984 .
