Our Lady of Peace
Korean Catholic Shrine

Ursicina Kim was the wife of Thaddeus Jo Chi-myeong. She led a life of faith in Yongchon, Juksan after she married him. The couple was arrested together by a police inspector from Juksan in July 1868. Her husband Thaddeus had difficulty in hearing. Therefore, he did not quite catch what the police inspector said. The inspector punished him countless times while asking him the whereabouts of other Catholics and relatives. However, it was to no avail. Ursicina explained to the inspector that her husband was hard of hearing. After hearing this, the inspector took Ursicina instead of her husband Thaddeus and set him free. But the inspector changed his mind and took Thaddeus together with Ursicina to the Juksan government office. 

Immediately after the couple Ursicina and Thaddeus were taken to Juksan, they were brought before the magistrate and interrogated. In the interrogation, the couple replied that they were Catholics and wished to die quickly. They were put in prison and then they died martyrs by hanging. Ursicina was 26 years old and her husband Thaddeus was 29 years old. When the couple Ursicina and Thaddeus were in prison, their ten year old son used to bring them food which he had begged for. Ursicina shared the food with the Catholics in prison.

She did not eat in the case of food shortage. One day, Ursicina said to her son, “We are going to die soon. You should stop worrying about us and go back to the hometown.” As he was told, the son went to his hometown. Sometime later, he came back to the Juksan government office in order to see his parents, but the couple Thaddeus and Ursicina had already been martyred.