Kim Agada Tomb

Overview

The Tomb of Kim Agatha is a historic site of the Diocese of Busan located at the Salti Faith Heritage Site in Deokhyeon-ri, Sangbuk-myeon, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, and is the tomb of the virgin Kim Agatha, who died while attending to Father Thomas Choi Yang-eop in Jukrim Cave during the Gyeongsin Persecution. Good News introduces her as the granddaughter of Francisco Kim Gyo-hui, the first believer of Eonyang.

History

[Arrest and Jukrim Cave] Good News writes that the virgin Kim Agatha, who lived in Ganwol-gol, voluntarily gave herself up with two other virgins to be arrested, seeking to follow her father James Kim Sang-eun and her elder brother Peter Kim Yeong-je after they were seized during the Gyeongsin Persecution in 1860. When the constables tried to sell them off to another place, she fled and hid in Jukrim Cave, where Father Thomas Choi Yang-eop was in hiding.

[Death] According to Good News, Kim Agatha stayed in Jukrim Cave for 3 months, relaying news from outside and attending to Father Choi Yang-eop by preparing meals and doing laundry. Suffering from the aftereffects of her arrest, she was ill for many days, received all the sacraments, and, listening to Father Choi Yang-eop’s prayers for the dying, died at the age of 24. Father Choi covered the body with pine branches and erected a grave marker, and a few days later the faithful moved her to Ganwol-gol and buried her on the hill behind the Catholic mission chapel. Her life was passed down only by oral tradition until it was later confirmed to have been introduced in the last letter Father Choi sent from Jukrim Cave in September 1860 to Father Riva and Father Legrez.

[Maintenance and relocation of the tomb] Good News writes that in April 1991 the Martyrs Exaltation Committee of the Diocese of Busan cleared Kim Agatha’s tomb and erected a tombstone, and that in March 2008 the tomb was moved next to the tomb of her elder brother Peter Kim Yeong-je in Salti, with a blessing ceremony held in September of that year. The tomb on the hill behind the Ganwol Catholic mission chapel is also preserved.

Related Places and People

• Tomb of Peter Kim Yeong-je: The tomb of Kim Agatha’s elder brother, next to which Agatha’s tomb now stands (Good News).
• Jukrim Cave: The place where Father Choi Yang-eop hid during the Gyeongsin Persecution and where Kim Agatha stayed for 3 months (Good News).
• Tomb on the hill behind the Ganwol Catholic mission chapel: The tomb where she was first buried and which is still preserved today (Good News).

References and Sources

1. Catholic Good News Holy Sites and Historic Sites, “Tomb of Kim Agatha in Ganwol” (Diocese of Busan). Arrest and hiding in Jukrim Cave, death, maintenance in 1991 and relocation in 2008.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2375
2. Catholic Good News Holy Sites and Historic Sites, “Tombs of Kim Yeong-je and Kim Agatha in Salti” (Diocese of Busan). Relocation in 2008 and the siblings’ tombs.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2330