BAYSIDE — Some 10,000 men, women, and children were martyred for their Christian faith in the 18th and 19th centuries, including 103 Catholics canonized together in 1984 by St. John Paul II. Among them is the first Korean Catholic priest, St. Andrew Kim Taegon, who was tortured and beheaded at age 25 in 1846.  

The Korean Catholic community from four parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn honored the martyrs on their feast day, Sept. 20, during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan. An estimated 200 people filled St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Bayside, one of the four parishes in the diocese that particularly serve Korean Catholics.  

The Mass also celebrated the parish’s 30th anniversary of serving Korean Catholics.  

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Father Paul Kim, parochial vicar at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Bayside, coordinates the Korean Apostolate for the Diocese of Brooklyn.  

“They’re great role models for us Koreans,” Father Kim said about the martyrs. “We’re taught that sometimes our lives are demanded of us. It’s just following the Gospel — Jesus calling us.”  

Father Kim said the feast-day Mass rotates each year among the four parishes, but this was the first year that Bishop Brennan served as celebrant.  

The other parishes that form the apostolate are St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang in Flushing, Holy Spirit in Borough Park, and St. Raphael in Long Island City.  

Bishop Brennan recalled a recent discussion with Father John Hwang, the diocese’s master of ceremonies and a native of Korea. They realized the feast day of the Korean Martyrs was approaching, so Bishop Brennan resolved to be there.  

“I said, ‘Let’s make this a priority,’ ” Bishop Brennan told the congregation at Mass. “I really wanted to be able to celebrate this day with you.”  

It was a busy day for him.  

Bishop Brennan said the Church’s legacy in Korea is “a story of terrible persecution” — one that reminded him of what Jesus told his disciples in John 12:20-26, when he likened the pending sacrifice of his life to that of a single grain of wheat. Once the kernel hits the ground, it dies but also slips beneath the surface where it sprouts into a new plant that produces even more wheat.  

Similarly, the martyrs’ sacrifices helped grow the faith “exponentially” in Korea and beyond, Bishop Brennan said.  

Another 124 Korean Catholics were declared “venerable” in 2014 when Pope Francis beatified them. But Bishop Brennan said that this history has also inspired modern-day people of Korean heritage to produce great fruit in the Diocese of Brooklyn.  

As proof, he noted the well-attended local youth programs offered by the Korean Catholic community.  

Father Kim said many of these teens will attend the next World Youth Day, Aug. 3-8, 2027, in Seoul, South Korea, where they will learn more about the martyrs. Its theme is “Take courage! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  

Bishop Brennan mentioned that Teresa Kwon, a martyr canonized in 1984, displayed profound courage when she was executed in 1819 for refusing to denounce the faith.  

Instead, she quoted Romans 8:31 — “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  

“Wow,” Bishop Brennan exclaimed. “What bravery! What conviction! And it’s that kind of faith that made more generations of believers. Yes, friends, the grain of wheat is planted. 

“Thanks be to God it continues to produce great fruit.”