Biography
Agatha Yi
About Agatha Yi
Agatha Yi was the daughter of Augustine Yi Kwang-hon and Barbara Kwon Hui. She was imprisoned with her parents during the persecution of 1839. The bishops’ conference account describes repeated attempts to make her renounce Catholicism through persuasion and punishment.
Guards told her that her parents had abandoned their religion and been released. The account identifies that claim as false. Agatha refused to renounce her own belief and also spoke for her younger brother Damian. Her father was executed in May and her mother in September 1839.
After transfer to the criminal court, she was returned to police custody because of her youth. There she and Theresa Kim encouraged one another. The modern critical biography dates their deaths by strangulation in prison to January 9, 1840. An annotated version of an earlier report records a conflicting December 1839 date.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.