Biography
Barbara Kim
About Barbara Kim
Barbara Kim came from a poor family and moved to Seoul while young to work as a servant in a Catholic household. She wished to remain unmarried, but her father pressed her to marry. Her husband did not become a Catholic.
The bishops’ conference account names the household in which she worked as that of Maria Hwang. Barbara was able to have a daughter baptized.
After her husband died, Barbara continued practicing Catholicism with her daughter. When missionaries entered Korea, she sought the sacraments and became more active in religious practice. She was arrested with the owner of the house in which she was staying during the persecution of 1839. She suffered severe punishment but refused to abandon her religion.
Barbara died in prison on May 27, 1839.
The encyclopedia describes a fever during her imprisonment.
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