Martyr Felix Peter Kim Kilyang Shrine

Overview

The Blessed Kim Giryang Felix Peter martyrdom site is a martyrdom historic site of the Masan Diocese marked on the lawn in front of the main gate at the entrance to Sebyeonggwan on Sebyeong-ro, Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, commemorating the place where Blessed Kim Giryang Felix Peter (1816-1867), called the 'Apostle of Jeju,' underwent interrogation and punishment at the Tongyeong government office during the 1866 Byeongin Persecution and was martyred. The former Tongjeyeong site here is also a place of witness to the faith where Blessed Yun Bongmun Joseph underwent interrogation and punishment in 1888 before being transferred to Jinju.

History

Kim Giryang (金耆良) Felix Peter was born in 1816 in Hamdeok-ri, Jeju Island (now Hamdeok-ri, Jocheon-eup, Jeju-si) into a middle-class family. People called him 'Kim Seondal,' and he was a merchant who traveled by boat for trade (Bishops' Conference biography). On February 18, 1857 (lunar January 24), he went out to sea with companions to trade, met a storm and drifted, and after more than 1 months, on March 26, he was rescued by a British ship in the sea off Guangdong, China. His companions had already died of exhaustion.

After his rescue, Kim Giryang was sent to the Paris Foreign Missions Society Far East office in Hong Kong, where he met French missionaries and the Korean seminarian Yi Paulino, who was resting there. From the day after meeting Kim Giryang, Yi Paulino taught him Catholic doctrine, and Kim Giryang began to memorize prayers, and his faith soon deepened. On May 31, 1857, he was baptized by Vice-Superior Fr. J. J. Rousseille in Hong Kong and returned to Korea (Bishops' Conference biography). According to the related shrine guide of the Bishops' Conference (Jeju Diocese section), a letter dated April 14, 1857, written by Fr. Rousseille of the Hong Kong mission to Fr. Albrand, rector of the seminary in Paris, about Kim Giryang from Hamdeok-ri, Jeju Island, is preserved.

Immediately after returning, before going down to his hometown Jeju, in 1858, from 3 to April, he met Fr. S. Feron and Fr. Choe Yang-eop Thomas, and at that time the priests believed without doubt that he would become the 'Apostle of Jeju.' He devoted himself to teaching doctrine to his family and boatmen, and the following spring he came to the mainland to meet Bishop S. Berneux, head of the diocese, and received the sacraments. Afterwards he continued his life of faith traveling to and from the mainland, and in 1865 he was shipwrecked a second time, arrived in Nagasaki, Japan, met Fr. Petitjean, and returned home the following year. Coming to the mainland again, he visited Fr. F. Ridel and had 2 of his boatmen baptized. It is said that at that time he composed and sang a Catholic song beginning 'Ah, friends, let us go on the road of martyrdom' (Bishops' Conference biography).

However, the work for the evangelization of Jeju was interrupted by the 1866 Byeongin Persecution. Immediately after the persecution broke out, he went to Tongyeong in Gyeongsang-do as usual to trade, and on Geseom Island (now Punghwa-ri, Sanyang-eup, Tongyeong-si) he was revealed as a Catholic and arrested. Dragged to the Tongyeong government office, he underwent repeated interrogation and punishment but did not yield, and in prison he exhorted the fellow believers with him, saying, 'I am resolved to be martyred, so do not change your hearts but follow me' (Bishops' Conference biography).

The Tongyeong magistrate reported to the Daegu governor that Kim Giryang and his companions could not be made to apostatize. The governor ordered 'beat them to death,' and although they were severely flogged again, since they were still alive, the magistrate moved them all to prison and had them executed by hanging. The time was in January 1867 (lunar December 1866), and Kim Giryang was 51 years old. It is said that the magistrate had a large nail driven into his chest so that he could never revive (Bishops' Conference biography, related shrine guide). The biography records the time of martyrdom as 'January 1867,' and the related shrine guide records the time of martyrdom at the Tongyeong government office as 'December 1866 (lunar).'

The related shrine guide of the Bishops' Conference explains that this martyrdom site is at the former Tongjeyeong site where the Tongyeong government office stood (Munhwa-dong 62). This is the place where Felix Peter Kim Giryang in December 1866 (lunar) and Joseph Yun Bongmun in 1888 kept their faith amid severe interrogation and punishment. Yun Bongmun was forced to apostatize under interrogation and punishment here at Tongjeyeong before being transferred to Jinju, and when going to Jinju he was dragged with his heels pierced with kudzu vines, and on April 1, 1888 (lunar February 20) he was martyred by hanging in Jinju prison. He was 36 years old at the time.

Kim Giryang is also honored in the Jeju Diocese. In 2012, the Jeju Diocese Committee for Beatification and Canonization produced a portrait of Felix Peter Kim Giryang, the first believer and martyr of Jeju (related shrine guide of the Bishops' Conference, Jeju Diocese section).

Architecture and Space

The related shrine guide introduces the Tongyeong government office and prison site, with a photo of Sebyeonggwan (洗兵館), the guest house of Tongjeyeong designated as National Treasure No. 305. Tongjeyeong is short for Samdosugun Tongjeyeong, the headquarters where the Naval Commander of the Three Provinces commanded and controlled the navies of the 3 provinces of Gyeongsang, Jeolla, and Chungcheong. When the Imjin War broke out in 25 (Seonjo 1592), Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Left Naval Commander of Jeolla, won successive victories, and the following year the king created the title 'Samdosugun Tongjesa' and bestowed it on Admiral Yi Sun-sin. The camp newly established on Hansan Island by the first commander Admiral Yi Sun-sin was the first Tongjeyeong, and with the move of Tongjeyeong to Duryongpo by Commander Yi Gyeong-jun, the 6th commander, who received approval on September 9, Seonjo 37 (1604), the history of Tongyeong began. The guide says that coming down along the road from Tongjeyeong, one reaches the place where the Tongyeong prison site stood.

The daily Mass shrine guide of the Bishops' Conference introduces the location of this martyrdom site as 'Sebyeong-ro 26 , Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (lawn in front of the main gate at the entrance to Sebyeonggwan)' and lists Taepyeong-dong church as the contact.

Faith Meaning and Visiting Context

Kim Giryang is introduced in the biography as the person whom the priests believed without doubt would become the 'Apostle of Jeju.' The related shrine guide of the Bishops' Conference introduces the Tongyeong government office and prison site as the 'place of witness to the faith of Blessed Kim Giryang Felix Peter and Yun Bongmun Joseph' and includes together the stories of the two blessed who underwent interrogation and punishment here. The related shrine guide (Jeju Diocese section) includes photos of the birthplace site of Kim Giryang in Hamdeok-ri, Jeju-si and of Jocheonjin Port in front of the village where the birth house stood.

Related Places and People

• Tongjeyeong and Sebyeonggwan: the place where the Tongyeong government office stood, a place of witness to the faith where Kim Giryang and Yun Bongmun underwent interrogation and punishment.
• Tongyeong prison site: the site of the prison reached by coming down along the road from Tongjeyeong.
• Geseom (Punghwa-ri, Sanyang-eup, Tongyeong-si): the place where Kim Giryang was revealed as a Catholic and arrested.
• Hamdeok-ri, Jeju: Kim Giryang's hometown and the village where his birthplace site is located.
• Blessed Yun Bongmun Joseph: the 'Apostle of Geoje' who, after interrogation at the Tongyeong government office, was martyred in Jinju prison.
• Yi Paulino: the Korean seminarian who taught doctrine to Kim Giryang in Hong Kong.

References and Sources

1. Special Episcopal Commission for Beatification and Canonization, Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference, Biography of 124 Blessed, Felix Peter Kim Giryang. Confirmed birth and drifting, baptism in Hong Kong, evangelization in Jeju, and arrest and martyrdom in Tongyeong.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/124-Martyrs/111
2. Special Episcopal Commission for Beatification and Canonization, Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference, Related Shrine Tongyeong Government Office and Prison Site. Confirmed martyrdom at the Tongyeong government office, interrogation of Yun Bongmun, and history of Tongjeyeong.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Shrines/77
3. Special Episcopal Commission for Beatification and Canonization, Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference, Related Shrine Felix Peter Kim Giryang (Jeju Diocese). Confirmed Hong Kong mission letter, evangelization in Jeju, and production of the portrait.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Shrines/94
4. Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference Daily Mass, National Guide to Shrines, Martyrdom Historic Sites and Pilgrimage Sites. Confirmed location of the martyrdom site and contact church.
   https://missa.cbck.or.kr/Shrines