Biography
Magdalena Kim Ob-i
About Magdalena Kim Ob-i
Magdalena Kim Ob-i learned Catholic teaching while young. She hoped to remain unmarried, but married a Catholic man at her mother’s urging. After losing her husband and children, she returned to her family.
She cared for her elderly mother and earned her living at Aegogae by making manggeon, the headbands worn with men’s traditional hair arrangements.
Magdalena helped instruct others in Catholic teaching. Together with Barbara Han A-gi’s mother, she encouraged Barbara to resume practicing her religion.
In 1836, Magdalena was arrested with Barbara Han and Agatha Kim A-gi. The encyclopedia associates their arrest with Catholic belief and possession of religious books. Magdalena explained the Ten Commandments during questioning and refused to abandon her faith. She received a death sentence, but its execution was delayed. After years in prison, she was executed with eight other Catholics outside Seoul’s Small West Gate on May 24, 1839.
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