St. Andrew Chong Hwa-Gyong

Andrew Chong Hwa-gyong left his native district of Chong-san, Korea so as to be freer to practice his Catholic faith. He had been giving valued assistance to the Catholics of Seoul when a man came to him with a story that the nation’s pagan officials were on the verge of ending their persecution of Catholics and were ready to embrace the faith themselves. The man asked to know the whereabouts of the bishop, (Saint) Lawrence Imbert. The tale was a total fabrication, but Andrew naively believed it and acceded to the man’s request. Consequently Bishop Imbert was arrested and executed. Deeply remorseful for his foolish mistake, Andrew went to warn two missionaries that they were being hunted down by pagan agents. He confessed his sins to one of the priests, and expressed the desire to turn himself in to the authorities, but the missionaries urged him to hide. Nonetheless, he was soon captured. Despite being subjected to the brutal torture of bone-bending, Andrew remained steadfast in professing his faith. After five months of imprisonment, he was executed by strangling.