Jinan-ri Shrine

About this place

Jinalli Shrine is a site commemorated by the Diocese of Andong as the place where Venerable Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop died. It lies near the old transportation route where the roads toward Mungyeong Saejae and Ihwa Pass divided. The diocese explains that this area had long been a passage linking the Yeongnam and Chungcheong regions. During the period of persecution, missionaries and Catholics used routes around the mountain gates to travel, and Father Choe is commemorated here as having fallen ill and died in this region while traveling to Seoul to report on his pastoral work. This geographical context makes the shrine not only a place that commemorates the final journey of Father Choe Yang-eop but also a point from which pilgrims can reflect on the history of Catholics who carried the faith along mountain paths and through passes during the era of persecution.

Today, Jinalli Shrine functions as a place of pilgrimage where the faithful remember Father Choe’s life and ministry and pray for his beatification and canonization. In 2025 the Diocese of Andong again identified the site as his place of death when it celebrated a Mass there for his beatification and canonization, and the shrine continues to be included in diocesan pilgrimage and prayer initiatives. Its significance therefore extends beyond marking the end of one person’s journey: it invites pilgrims to remember the pastoral life of Father Choe, who traveled through many regions during persecution to care for the faithful, and to reflect on the faith embodied in that life. A pilgrim can therefore reflect here not only on the death of one priest, but also on the persevering pastoral journeys of a Korean priest who traveled on foot across a wide region to care for scattered Catholics.