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Biography

Agatha Yi Kyong-i

Portrait of Agatha Yi Kyong-i

About Agatha Yi Kyong-i

Agatha Yi Kyong-i grew up in a Catholic family. After an unsuccessful marriage, she sought help from Bishop Laurence Imbert and separated from her husband. She lived with Agatha Kwon Chin-i because her own family could not support her.

During the persecution of 1839, she was arrested with Agatha Kwon, Magdalena Han Yong-i and a household servant. The authorities detained the younger women separately from Magdalena before further interrogation.

The bishops’ conference account records that sympathetic policemen allowed the two Agathas to escape, but they were arrested again in Seoul. They refused to give up their faith despite severe punishment.

Agatha Yi was executed at Tang-kogae near Seoul on January 31, 1840.

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