Catholic saint biography
St. Barbara Ko Sun-i
- Lived:
- d. 1839 — Korea
A Catholic liturgical calendar date has not yet been verified for this entry. Execution dates are not treated as feast days; a shared celebration requires a scoped calendar citation.
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Biography
Barbara Ko Sun-i was a Korean Catholic wife and mother married to the catechist Augustine Pak Chong-won. Together they raised their children in the faith and helped others prepare for baptism. Barbara also cared for sick people and encouraged Catholics whose religious practice had weakened.
She was arrested in October 1839 after her husband's capture. The couple met in prison and encouraged one another, but neither accepted demands to abandon Catholicism. Barbara endured repeated violence and was executed outside Seoul's Small West Gate in December. She and Augustine are remembered individually, with different execution dates, rather than being combined into a single martyr entry.
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What will you carry with you?
After reading about St. Barbara Ko Sun-i, take a moment to consider:
- Which event or decision in this life stood out to you?
- What virtue would you like to understand or practice more deeply?
- What small action could you take today in response?
These are reflection prompts from Saint Discovery, not quotations from the saint.
Sources and further reading
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