{{Short description|Korean Catholic saint (1820–1840)}} {{hatnote group|{{family name hatnote|Kwon||lang=Korean}}{{baptismal name|Agatha}}}} {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix = Saint | name = Agatha Kwon Chin-i | birth_date = 1820 | death_date = {{death year and age|1840|1820}} | venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church | death_place= Yongsan District, Seoul, Joseon | canonized_date = 1984 | canonized_by = John Paul II | major_shrine = Danggogae Martyrs’ Shrine | feast_day = September 20 }}
thumb | right | alt=Photo of a poster of Agathe Kwon Chin | Photo of Agathe Kwon Chin '''Agatha Kwon Chin-i''' ({{Korean|hangul=아가타 권진이|hanja=權珍伊}}; 1820–1840) is a Korean Catholic saint, one of the 103 Korean Martyrs.
==Biography== She was born in 1820, to a government official and his wife, St. Magdalene Han Yong-i, who was martyred on December 29, 1839. Agatha was married at a young age, about 12 or 13 years old, but her husband was too poor to care for her, so she lived with her relatives.<ref name="stagatha">{{Cite web|title=St. Agatha Kwon Chin-i|url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5994|website=Catholic Online|language=en|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603060543/https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5994|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="103saints">{{Cite web|title=103 Korean Martyr Saints - 권진이 아가타 Agatha Kwon Chin-i|url=http://english.cbck.or.kr/?mid=Saints103&page=9&document_srl=339&sort_index=readed_count&order_type=asc|date=21 August 2009|website=Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea|access-date=29 May 2020}}</ref> Agatha worked as a housekeeper for Chinese priest Yu Pang-che Pacificus during his visit to Korea; on her request, he had her marriage annulled "so that she could be a virgin".<ref name="103saints" /> Yu returned to China after rumors spread about their relationship, and although they subsided, she "was repentant and determined to make up for it by offering herself as a martyr to God".<ref name="103saints" />
When Agatha was 21, she was arrested with her mother and two young Catholic women, St. Agatha Yi Kyong-i and a servant girl; she and her mother were separated and the women were placed under house arrest in Seoul, under the surveillance of a guard.<ref name="stagatha" /><ref name="103saints" /> An "apostate Christian"<ref name="stagatha" /> offered Agatha freedom if she went away with him and threatened her if she refused; when she rejected him, the guards became sympathetic towards her and helped all three women escape. The servant girl, however, was re-captured, and told her captors where the other women were hiding; they were re-arrested and the guards who helped them escape were punished by their superiors.<ref name="stagatha" /><ref name="103saints" />
Both women refused to deny their faith despite "many severe tortures";<ref name="103saints" /> Agatha was brutally beaten on her legs in court.<ref name="stagatha" /> She visited her mother one last time in prison before her mother's execution. Agatha was also able to send a letter, which was "full of fervent affection and obedience to God's Will",<ref name="103saints" /> to a friend. Agatha was beheaded a month later, on January 31, 1840, in Danggogae in what is now the Yongsan district of Seoul, with five other Catholics.<ref name="stagatha" />
== Legacy == The Korean bishops said of Agatha: "This young Korean woman offered God more tears and more fragrant perfume than Mary Magdalene of Jesus' time".<ref name="103saints" />
St. Agatha was part of the persecution of Catholics in Korea that took place over the course of 100 years. Up to 10,000 Catholics were martyred for their faith because they were perceived as a threat to local Confucian ideals, over five main waves of persecution. She was executed during "the infamous 1839–1840 {{ill|Gihae Persecution|ko|기해박해}}",<ref name="jensen">{{Cite news|last=Jensen|first=Alex|date=1 June 2017|title=Korea's Martyred Mothers|work=Columbia Magazine|publisher=Knights of Columbus|url=http://www.kofc.org/en/columbia/detail/korea-martyred-mothers.html|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603060543/http://www.kofc.org/en/columbia/detail/korea-martyred-mothers.html|url-status=live}}</ref> with a group of ten prisoners, including St. Mary Yi Seong-rye.
Nine of the Danggogae martyrs, including St. Agatha, were canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984, when he canonized 103 martyrs and French missionaries killed during the waves of persecutions in Korea.<ref name="jensen" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Martyrs of Korea|url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4774|website=Catholic Online|language=en|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603060541/https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4774|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Pope Canonizes 103 Korean Martyrs: 6 May 1984|work=History Channel|url=https://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/pope-canonizes-103-korean-martyrs/|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603060547/https://www.historychannel.com.au/this-day-in-history/pope-canonizes-103-korean-martyrs/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Kamm|first=Henry|date=7 May 1984|title=Pope Canonizes 103 Martyrs in Seoul|page=A-3|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/07/world/pope-canonizes-103-martyrs-in-seoul.html|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=28 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828170621/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/07/world/pope-canonizes-103-martyrs-in-seoul.html|url-status=live}}</ref> There is a shrine dedicated to the martyrs at Danggogae, which honors the third-highest number of martyred saints in Korea.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2014 Pope Francis to visit Korea|url=http://popekorea.catholic.or.kr/en/korea/kcc_04.asp|website=2014 Pastoral Visit of Pope Francis to Korea|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=1 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101000851/http://popekorea.catholic.or.kr/en/korea/kcc_04.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= }}
==External links== *[http://www.danggogae.org/index.php?mid=board_APKU58&page=1&document_srl=251&l=en Danggogae Catholic Martyrs' Shrine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603030832/http://www.danggogae.org/index.php?mid=board_APKU58&page=1&document_srl=251&l=en |date=2020-06-03 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwon, Chin-i}} Category:1820 births Category:1840 deaths Category:19th-century Christian saints Category:19th-century Christian martyrs Category:19th-century Korean people Category:19th-century Korean women Category:Joseon Christians