Installation of Statue on Exterior Wall of St. Peter's Basilica
Blessing Ceremony Held on 177th Anniversary of Martyrdom
The statue of Korea's first priest, Saint Father Kim Dae-geon Andrea (1821?1846), was erected in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
The blessing ceremony for Father Kim Dae-geon's statue was held on the 16th at 4:30 p.m. local time near the statue installation site on the outer wall of St. Peter's Basilica. About 400 representatives from the Korean Catholic Church, including the Korean bishops, attended the ceremony.
The blessing ceremony of the statue of Saint Father Kim Dae-geon Andrea was held on the 16th (local time) near the installation site on the outer wall of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. [Photo by Yonhap News]
The statue of Father Kim Dae-geon was placed next to statues of European religious order founders such as Saints Francis and Dominic. This is the first time in history that a saint who is not a founder of a religious order has had a statue installed on the outer wall of the basilica, and it is also the first time in Catholic Church history that a statue of an Asian saint has been installed in St. Peter's Basilica.
The day of the statue blessing ceremony was especially meaningful as it marked exactly 177 years since Father Kim Dae-geon's martyrdom. The statue, created over two years by sculptor Han Jin-seop, is a full-body statue made of marble, standing 3.7 meters tall and 1.83 meters wide. It depicts Father Kim wearing traditional Korean attire including a gat (traditional hat) and dopo (overcoat), with his arms outstretched in a gesture of embracing and accepting all.
On the pedestal of the statue, the top line is inscribed in Korean: "Saint Kim Dae-geon Andrea Priest Martyr," followed by Latin inscriptions: "S. ANDREAS KIM TAEGON," "PRESBYTER ET MARTYR (priest and martyr)," and "COREA 1821-1846."
The statue is located in a niche on the right outer wall of St. Peter's Basilica, near the exit of the basilica's underground crypt where most previous popes are buried. This area is close to the Vatican souvenir shops, making it a relatively frequented pathway.
The blessing ceremony was presided over by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, who oversees St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Gambetti said, "Starting with Father Kim Dae-geon, statues representing each nation and people will now be enshrined in St. Peter's Basilica," adding, "Today's blessing ceremony is an expression of hope that the Eastern and Western churches will walk together."
After the blessing ceremony, a traditional Korean percussion performance called Samulnori, prepared by four young members of the Korean parish in Rome, was held right in front of Father Kim's statue.
Pope Francis met with the Korean delegation earlier that day at 10 a.m. in the Clement Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace before the blessing ceremony. The meeting was also attended by film director Park Heung-sik and lead actor Yoon Shi-yoon, who were involved in the movie "Birth" (2022), which depicts the life of Father Kim Dae-geon. One of the artists who created the statue also presented the Pope with a separate model prototype of the statue.
The Pope urged the Korean Catholic delegation, "I ask all of you to become apostles of peace like Father Kim Dae-geon in your respective lives." Kang Seung-gyu, the senior secretary for civil society at the Presidential Office, who was dispatched as a special envoy from the government, delivered a letter from President Yoon Suk-yeol to the Pope.
Cardinal You Heung-sik, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican, played a key role in the creation and installation of Father Kim Dae-geon's statue. Cardinal You, the first Korean cleric to be appointed as a Vatican prefect, personally expressed his intention to dedicate the statue to Pope Francis in August 2021, the 200th anniversary of Father Kim's birth. Subsequently, according to the results of the Korean Catholic Bishops' Conference's autumn plenary meeting last year, 16 dioceses jointly raised funds for the statue's production.
Father Kim Dae-geon was born in 1821 in Dangjin, Chungnam Province. He studied theology in Macau and was ordained a priest in Shanghai, China, in 1845. After returning to Korea, he carried out pastoral work amid Catholic persecution and was martyred the following year in 1846 at the Saenamteo holy site. Father Kim was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984.
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