Blessed Vincent Kaun
Feast day: June 20
Thousands of Korean Catholics were killed for their unshakeable faith in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the first Korean priest, St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon. Yet these men and women were not the first Korean martyrs; more than a century earlier, a Korean Jesuit catechist named Vincent Kaun gave his life for God in Japan.
Born into a noble family in 1579, Blessed Vincent was taken prisoner during the 1592 Imjin War between Korea and Japan, and eventually found himself in the care of a Jesuit missionary in Japan. He was baptized at age 13 and educated by the Jesuits at a local seminary, becoming a catechist and helping to evangelize other Korean prisoners of war in Nagasaki. Later assigned to help found a mission in Korea, he traveled as far as Beijing, but was not permitted to re-enter his homeland. However, with the Chinese language skills he learned in Beijing, he became even more helpful to his fellow missionaries.
In 1614, the Japanese shogun, or military ruler, issued a decree banishing all foreign missionaries and forbidding Japanese Christians from practicing their religion. In the years that followed, hundreds of Christians who remained true to their faith were beheaded or died slowly by fire. Blessed Vincent, who had returned to Japan, was arrested in 1625 with Father John Baptist Zola. Together they were imprisoned with Father Francisco Pacheco, the Portuguese provincial superior of the Jesuits, who had been arrested with several other priests and catechists and the families hiding them.
In prison, Father Pacheco turned the group into a quasi-religious community, with set times for rising, prayer, meditation, fasting and doing penance to prepare and strengthen them for their upcoming martyrdom. He also admitted Blessed Vincent and several other catechists into the Society of Jesus.
On June 20, 1626, the prisoners were brought to Nagasaki, where they were taken to Martyrs’ Hill. The nine Jesuits in the group, including Blessed Vincent Kaun, were tied to stakes, and a large amount of firewood was put around each so that he would die quickly, rather than the customary “slow fire.” The men died within 15 minutes.
Officials kept the lay people aside, hoping that some would apostatize after watching the Jesuits die. However, the martyrs’ deaths only strengthened their faith. The remaining eight lay prisoners were martyred July 12, 1626. All are counted among the 205 Martyrs of Japan beatified by Pope Pius IX on May 7, 1867.
Reflection
My Lord and my God, thank you for the gift of faith. Give me the grace to keep it alive with the assistance of prayer, the sacraments and a strong community of believers.
Prayer
Almighty and merciful God,
who brought your Martyr blessed Vincent Kaun
to overcome the torments of his passion,
grant that we, who celebrate the day of his triumph,
may remain invincible under your protection
against the snares of the enemy.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
