Francis Kim Nan-sik and Thomas Kim Hyun-chae Tomb

History & origins

Kim Nan-sik Francis, born in 1827, was a younger brother of St. Andrew Kim Taegon, while Kim Hyeon-chae Thomas, born in 1825, was another member of the priest’s extended family. Both belonged to a family that maintained its Catholic faith amid the persecutions of late Joseon.

When the Byeongin Persecution broke out in 1866, they sought refuge in the foothills of Hoemunsan. Catholics fleeing persecution gathered in the mountains of this region and formed hidden faith communities, including a settlement known as Meokguni. The Diocese of Jeonju records that the two men continued their Catholic life here while supporting themselves through mountain agriculture and other means of livelihood.

Kim Nan-sik died in 1873 and Kim Hyeon-chae in 1888, and both were buried in this mountain area. Their graves are not those of clergy or formally recognized martyrs; rather, they preserve the memory of lay people and families who continued to live the Catholic faith in remote mountain communities after persecution. As the history of the Hoemunsan mission stations became better known, the graves came to stand as important evidence connecting the family history of St. Andrew Kim Taegon with the history of local Catholic villages.

Their lives witness to faith during persecution in a way different from the formal narratives of martyrdom. The survival and transmission of Korean Catholicism depended not only on those who were arrested and died at execution grounds but also on believers who fled, relocated their homes, and maintained communities in remote mountains. The graves are remembered as a Catholic historical site precisely because they make that history of refuge and settlement visible in one place.