Biography
Magdalena Pak Pong-son
About Magdalena Pak Pong-son
Magdalena Pak Pong-son was born in Seoul in 1796 and married a man who was not a Catholic. After the deaths of her husband and parents-in-law, she returned to her own family with her two daughters. Her stepmother, Cecilia Kim, instructed her in Catholicism, and she became a Catholic around 1834.
She later lived in a crowded room at her uncle Kim Sa-mun’s home. Despite the household’s poverty, she continued her religious practice, undertook difficult chores and welcomed visiting Catholics. During the persecution of 1839, she remained at the house while others took refuge elsewhere. She was arrested there with her uncle, who had returned briefly.
She refused demands to renounce her faith or accuse fellow Catholics, despite severe punishment.
Magdalena was executed outside Seoul’s Small West Gate on September 26, 1839.
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