Bongam Mission Station

History & origins

The Catholic history of the Bongam area begins well before the present mission station, in nineteenth-century Christian villages. According to Catholic Times, Catholics fleeing persecution after the Gihae Persecution of 1839 gathered in Bangchukgol and Gyemaedae and formed communities of faith. Blessed Fr. Thomas Choe Yang-eop visited Bangchukgol during his pastoral journeys, celebrated Mass and administered the sacraments, and is remembered for recommending one of the sons of Ambrose Kim Baek-sim as a seminarian.

Persecution brought severe destruction. During the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, Catholics from Bangchukgol and Gyemaedae were arrested or dispersed, and several believers, including Ambrose Kim Baek-sim and members of his family and Francis Min Yun-myeong, lost their lives for the faith. The villages were effectively broken up, but in 1892 Joseph Jeong Mu-seon moved to Bongam and rebuilt a Catholic community. Bongam Mission Station was formed in 1897, carrying the local tradition of faith forward.

Over time, the station became more than a rural chapel: it served as the focal point for preserving the memory of the Bangchukgol and Gyemaedae communities. Recognizing the historical importance of the area, the Diocese of Cheongju declared Bongam a shrine on 29 November 2020. The designation brought together the memory of the Christian villages formed after persecution, the pastoral visits of Fr. Choe Yang-eop, and the witness of local martyrs.

After the shrine was declared, Maengdong Parish and local Catholics continued acquiring land and improving the site for pilgrims, with the mission station at the center of the project. The history of Bongam Mission Station is therefore the story of a community destroyed by persecution, rebuilt in a new form, and eventually transformed into a place of pilgrimage and prayer that preserves the faith of earlier generations. The fact that the mission station has become the center of today’s shrine is especially significant: it shows that the memory of the Catholic villages from the persecution era was not severed but has been inherited in a new form through the prayer and pilgrimage of the local community.