Oryundae Martyrs' Shrine

History & origins

In 1868, amid the continuing effects of the Byeongin Persecution, eight Catholics from the Dongnae area, including John Yi Jeong-sik and Martin Yang Jae-hyeon, endured imprisonment and interrogation before being taken to Suyeong Jangdae and beheaded for their faith. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea’s committee for beatification and canonization clearly identifies Suyeong Jangdae as the place of their martyrdom.

After the executions, relatives recovered the bodies of four members of Yi Jeong-sik’s family and buried them on the hill behind the Carmelite convent in Myeongjang-dong, Dongnae-gu. On September 19, 1977, their graves were transferred to the hill behind the present Oryundae Korean Martyrs Museum. The graves of the other martyrs could not be located, so memorial markers were erected for their veneration. This transfer was an important turning point that allowed the scattered memory of the martyrdoms to be commemorated continuously at Oryundae.

John Yi Jeong-sik and Martin Yang Jae-hyeon were beatified by Pope Francis on August 16, 2014. Their beatification linked the long-standing local veneration of the Busan martyrs with the Church’s formal recognition and veneration of them as Blesseds. The history of the graves and memorial spaces at Oryundae thus records a continuing effort to recover and preserve the burial places of Catholics who died in persecution and to restore their witness to the living memory of the Church community.