Nong-eun Hong Yu-han's Historic Site (Old House)

History & origins

Hong Yu-han was born in Ahyeon-dong, Seoul, in 1726 and entered the school of the scholar Yi Ik in 1742. From around 1750 he encountered works of Western Learning such as Tianzhu Shiyi and Qike and studied Catholic ideas, seeking to make them not merely intellectual knowledge but a rule for his own life. Although there is no confirmation that he was baptized, he is remembered as an early Korean Catholic ascetic who voluntarily practiced a disciplined life according to Catholic teaching.

In 1757 he left Seoul and moved to Yesan in Chungcheong Province, where he continued his study of Western Learning and an ascetic way of life in relative seclusion for about eighteen years. In 1775 he moved again, this time to Guguri in the Sunheung area beneath the Sobaeksan mountains, in search of a setting more suited to disciplined religious practice. There he lived a life of restraint, prayer, and meditation for about ten years until his death in 1785. He was then buried on the slopes of Munsusan in Ugok-ri, Bonghwa.

The place where he lived in Guguri later became a site of remembrance for his religious practice. A royal plaque honoring the filial devotion of his grandfather Hong Jung-myeong was preserved at the old home site, and on May 27, 1995, the Diocese of Andong erected a memorial monument there to commemorate both the 25th anniversary of the diocese and the 210th anniversary of Hong Yu-han’s death. The front of the monument identifies him as “the first ascetic of the Catholic Church in Korea,” while its side and rear record his life, turning the memory of his practice into a visible historical marker at the site.

The historical significance of the site lies in allowing visitors to reflect, at the actual place where he lived, on how a Confucian scholar encountered Western Learning and attempted to turn Catholic teaching into daily practice before the formal establishment of the Catholic Church in Korea. Hong Yu-han’s life shows how elements of the faith could be received through personal study and disciplined living before Church institutions were established, which is why his story is remembered as an important prehistory of Catholic life in the Andong region.