Ulsan Byeongyeong Martyrs' Shrine

History & origins

The Jangdae of the old Ulsan Byeongyeong was connected with the military administration and execution of punishment during the Joseon period, and during the persecutions of Catholics it became a place where believers were put to death. Material from the Special Episcopal Commission to Promote Beatification and Canonization of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea traces the Catholics who were brought to Ulsan during the persecutions and explains that James Heo In-baek, Peter Yi Yang-deung, and Luke Kim Jong-ryun were martyred here. The Ilseongnok also preserves an official report that the three were executed as persons accused of the prohibited Catholic teaching, supporting the historical record of the event.

Preservation and development of the site began in earnest more than a century after the martyrdoms. According to the chronology compiled by GoodNews Catholic Information, land was acquired in 1977 to preserve the martyrdom site, and in 1979 a monument, statues of the martyrs, and an outdoor altar were installed, giving the place a recognizable form as a pilgrimage site. After Byeongyeong Parish was established in 1988, the parish took responsibility for the shrine, and veneration of the martyrs and pilgrimage continued within the local Catholic community.

The shrine was later developed beyond a commemorative ground into a place equipped for liturgy and pilgrimage. Construction of a church began in 2013, and the new church was dedicated on March 15, 2014, strengthening the setting in which pilgrims could remember the martyrs through Mass and prayer. In this way, the Ulsan Byeongyeong Jangdae was transformed from a place of punishment into a place of martyr memory and then into a shrine that the Church continues to preserve as a living place of prayer. The circumstances of the three blesseds are documented in considerable detail. While living with their families in a cave at Danseoksan near Gyeongju to escape persecution, they were arrested, taken first to Gyeongju and then transferred to Ulsan, where they were beheaded at the Jangdae on September 14, 1868. Official martyr records also state that Heo In-baek’s wife, Park Jo-ye, recovered the bodies and buried them secretly near the execution ground, after which the remains were later moved through Jinmokjeong and Wolbae in Daegu and eventually to Bokja Catholic Church in Daegu.