Gamgok Catholic Church

Overview

Gamgok Church in Wangjang-ri, Gamgok-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do is a church belonging to the Diocese of Cheongju, also called Maegoe Church. Founded on September 17, 1896 under the name Janghowon Parish, it is the earliest Catholic church established in Chungcheongbuk-do, and its patron is Our Lady of Maegoe. The present church building was designated as Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage in 1996, and in 2006 it was approved as the Maegoe Marian pilgrimage shrine.

History

[From Bueonggol Parish to Janghowon] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the Janghowon area was originally under Bueonggol Parish. Bueonggol was a mountain village in Bupyeong-ri, Gangcheon-myeon, Yeoju-gun, in present-day Gyeonggi-do, where a Catholic village formed when the Sacred Heart Seminary was founded in 1885, and it remained a parish for some time even after the seminary moved to Yongsan, Seoul in 1887. In the spring of 1894, Father Bouillon (C. Bouillon, Im Gamillo), who had taken charge of Bueonggol Parish, judged the parish location unsuitable and was looking for a place to move when in May 1896 he purchased a hanok on Maesan Hill in Janghowon. This house was the home of Min Eung-sik, where Empress Myeongseong had briefly taken refuge during the Imo Incident, and by late 1895 it lay in ruins, burned down amid fighting between Righteous Armies and Japanese troops. The Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that after the assassination of Empress Myeongseong on October 12, 1895, Righteous Armies rose up, and in Janghowon the Righteous Army made Min Eung-sik's house its headquarters until Japanese troops attacked it and set fire to the house and nearby village.

[Parish Founding] Father Bouillon purchased this house site with Bishop Mutel's permission and was repairing the burned house, but when the work did not go well he moved the parish to Janghowon ahead of schedule on September 17, 1896, thereby closing Bueonggol Parish (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). Gamgok Parish was first called Janghowon Parish. A museum entry in the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that after moving the parish on September 17, the parish was founded on October 7, in the Month of Maegoe. At the time there were only 5 to 6 believers in Janghowon, but the parish jurisdiction covered Yeoju and Icheon in Gyeonggi-do and Danyang, Jecheon, Chungju, Eumseong, Goesan, Jincheon, Cheongju, Boeun and other areas in Chungcheong-do, reaching 27 Catholic mission chapels and over 1,300 believers in total (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). Father Bouillon continued building the rectory and small chapel and completed them on December 5, 1896.

[Father Bouillon's Prayer] The Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that while on a pastoral visit, Father Bouillon saw a palace-like house below the mountains at Janghowon and prayed on the spot to the Virgin Mary, "If you give me that palace-like house and mountain as my own, I will become your humble servant. And its patron will be Our Lady of Maegoe." The house was the 109-kan house of Min Eung-sik, cousin of Empress Myeongseong, where Empress Myeongseong had taken refuge during the Imo Incident in 1882. The same entry records that only 1 years and 4 months later, in May 1896, Father Bouillon purchased the house site and mountain owned by the Min clan.

[First Church and Schools] As believers increased, Father Bouillon began building a new church in 1903 and completed it in September the following year, and held its dedication ceremony on October 2, 1904, officiated by Bishop Mutel. This church combined hanok and Western styles with a total of 80 pyeong (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture describes it as a rectangular single-story tiled-roof wooden hanok church with 3 kan on the front and 10 kan on the side, in 3-aisle style. For education, he founded the Maegoe School for boys in 1907 and a girls' school in 1912, entrusted to the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres who joined the parish that year, and both schools changed to 6-year elementary school courses the following year (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that in 1907 the Maegoe School had 5 students, was renamed Maegoe School, and in 1916 the private school register listed the school name as Gonggyo Maegoe, founder and principal as Father Bouillon, and enrollment as 35 students. According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the school building was rebuilt in 1922 for the 1th time, then officially accredited in 1936 and expanded into a 3-story school building. From 1914 onward, Eucharistic processions began at Maesan, Hill of Roses (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

[Construction of the Present Church] On October 7, 1930, the present Gothic brick church with a belfry over 130 cheok high was newly built (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia), and a museum entry in the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that this cathedral had a floor area of 200 pyeong, and in 1934 a 3-story stone rectory and school building were newly built with the remaining stone. In 1933, the parish hymnal was compiled and published. With this growth, in 1937 total believers reached 2,150 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

[Late Japanese Occupation] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, surveillance and interference by the Japanese continued in the late Japanese period, in 1942 assistant priest Jo In-hwan was imprisoned over a minor matter, and the Japanese authorities also attempted to build a shrine on Maesan Hill. The Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia recounts that when the Japanese tried to build a shrine on Maesan Hill in 1943, Father Bouillon buried a "Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Conception" where the ground was being prepared, prayed asking for the construction to stop, and various unseasonal phenomena during construction prevented the work from proceeding. Bishop Jang Bong-hun of the Diocese of Cheongju's pastoral letter also cites as a sign of grace that Maegoe Marian Plaza had been designated as a shrine-worship site during the Japanese occupation with construction planned, but thunder, downpours and lightning thwarted the plan (quoted in the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia). Father Bouillon was confined to Yongsan Seminary as a French missionary, which the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia dates to 1942, while a museum entry in the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia places it in July 1943. Accordingly, Father Jang Geum-gu came as the 2th, followed by Father Yu Yeong-geun as the 3rd parish priest. When liberation came, believers raised the Taegeukgi that Father Bouillon had hidden under the altar and welcomed him back, and Father Bouillon returned as the 4th parish priest in November 1945 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

[Father Bouillon's Death and After] Father Bouillon died in October 1947 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia), and the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that he died on October 25. He was succeeded as parish priest by his assistant, Father Park Go-an, who went through the 6-25 War, and in March 1953 Maegoe School became Maegoe Commercial School. This school was accredited as Maegoe Girls' Middle and Commercial School with an attached girls' middle school in 1966, while the elementary school closed in 1972 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). In 1953, when Gamgok Church was established as the Chungcheongbuk-do Prefecture Vicariate under the Maryknoll Missionaries, Father Padi (James Pardy) came in September that year as the first Maryknoll priest, and until the Diocese of Cheongju was established in June 1958, Gamgok Church belonged to the Diocese of Seoul (Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia). In 1986, the 90th anniversary of the parish founding, the Marian garden was renovated, a statue of Father Bouillon was made and blessed, and the "History of Gamgok Parish over 90 Years" was compiled (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The designation as Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 188, marking the 100th anniversary of the parish founding, was in 1996 (Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia).

[Mother Parish of Chungcheongbuk-do] Gamgok Parish is the mother parish of Chungcheongbuk-do and gave birth to several parishes. In 1920 Gomari Parish, predecessor of Jeungpyeong Parish, in 1932 Cheongju Parish, predecessor of Sudong Parish, in 1945 Chungju Parish, and in 1957 Mugeuk Parish, present Geumwang Parish, were divided and established, and from these several more parishes were further divided (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia records that this church was built by French Father Bouillon (Im Gamillo) in 1896 as the first in Chungcheongbuk-do and the 18st in the country, and is known as the church that has produced the most priests, nuns and religious.

[Father Bouillon] According to the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia, Father Bouillon was born in 1869 in Vieille-Adour, Diocese of Tarbes in southwestern France. A member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, he was ordained in 1893 and entered Korea immediately after, taking charge in Bueonggol, Yeoju in 1894. After founding Gamgok Parish in 1896, he became its 1th priest and ministered until 1947, for 51 years. The same entry records that he entered Korea after the Korea-France Treaty and received a Taegeukgi directly from King Gojong, and that only a photograph remains of this Taegeukgi held by Gamgok Church, the original having been lent to the Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Office around 1950 and its whereabouts unknown since. His last words were "Holy Mother, save me," and his grave was prepared inside the church.

[Approval as Marian Pilgrimage Shrine] According to the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia, on October 7, 2006, Bishop Jang Bong-hun of the Diocese of Cheongju issued a pastoral letter on the feast of "Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary," patron of Gamgok Parish, and in accordance with Canons 1230 and 1232 approved Gamgok Church, marking its 110th anniversary of parish establishment, as the Maegoe Marian pilgrimage shrine. This is the second Marian pilgrimage shrine in Korean Catholic history, following the Namyang Marian Shrine of the Diocese of Suwon dedicated to the Virgin Mary on October 1, 1991. On October 19, 2006, the Diocese of Cheongju held the proclamation ceremony, Eucharistic procession and Benediction at Maegoe Marian Plaza in Gamgok Church. The Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture also records that the Diocese of Cheongju designated Gamgok Church as a Marian pilgrimage church in 2006.

[Church Statistics and Successive Pastors] Church statistics recorded in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia are in 1896 1,375 believers, in 1924 1,911 believers, in 1937 2,150 believers, in 1983 2,514 believers, and in 1993 3,433 believers. Its jurisdiction is listed as Gamgok-myeon and Saenggeuk-myeon in Eumseong-gun and Angseong-myeon in Jungwon-gun. Successive priests are the first, Bouillon Camillo (1896.9~1942), the 2th, Jang Geum-gu Chrysostom (1942~1943), the 3th, Yu Yeong-geun John (1943~1945.11), the 4th, Bouillon Camillo (1945.11~1947.10), the 5th, Park Go-an Francis (1947.10~1953.9), the 6th, Padi (J. Pardy) James (1953.9~12), the 7st, Rei (J. Ray) James (1953~1959), the 8th, Rian (F. Ryan) Francis (1959~1963), the 9th, Ahearn (W. Ahearn) William (1963~1968), the 10th, Kim Byeong-cheol Benedict (1968.10~1969), the 11th, Fleming (A. Fleming) Alfred (1970~1976), the 12th, Kim Gwang-myeong Augustine (1976.8~1979), the 13th, Gwak Dong-cheol John (1979~1981), the 14nd, Jeong Chung-il Anthony (1981), the 15th, Yun Gi-guk John (1981.9~1983.5), the 16th, Kim Gwang-hyeok Peter (1983.10~1986.10), the 17th, Jang In-san Bernard (1986.10~), the 18nd, Kim Gwon-il Donato (1989.6~1991.1), the 19th, Jo Seong-hak Lawrence (1991.1~1993.4), and the 20th, Son Byeong-ik Luke (1993.4~) (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

Architecture and Space

According to the Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture, the present church is a Gothic building with a length of 40m, a width of 15m, and a bell tower height of 36.5m, designed by Father Sijalle (Chizallet) of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Laid out in a three-aisled rectangular plan with nave and side aisles clearly divided by colonnades and ceiling, it is Latin cruciform. The front facade retains three bell-tower forms, the central tower's spire is very tall, and the front entrance is a pointed-arch porch beneath the central tower.

The interior consists of 1 bays in the tower section, 6 congregation bays, 2 sanctuary bays, an apse angled in 5 facets, and a sacristy leading to the ambulatory around it. The colonnade consists of 8-sided stone columns with large square capitals above (Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture).

On the front of the altar stands the parish patron "Statue of Our Lady of Maegoe," which is said to have been hit by 7 bullets from the People's Army during the Korean War, and was made at the Lourdes Shrine in France and enshrined in 1930 (Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture). Bishop Jang's pastoral letter records that communists shot at this statue but it was not destroyed despite 7 bullet marks remaining (quoted in the Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia).

Remodeling the old rectory built in 1934, the Maegoe Museum is a 3-story building opened in October 2002 (Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia). It holds the monstrance and gold chasuble used since the first Eucharistic procession in 1914 in Korea, the 1906 edition of "Ju-gyo Yo-ji" written by Jeong Yak-jong, and other items, keeps over 250 artifacts in a storage room with constant temperature and humidity, and has a Eucharistic Adoration chapel in the 3th-floor attic. A museum entry introduces five exhibition rooms, and records that three bells, Belladetda, Deresa and Maria, cast in Lourdes, France after the completion of the church in 1930 and installed in the tower were scattered in the late Japanese occupation's metal collection drive but all returned to the church after liberation, and now the Belladetda bell hangs in the tower while the Maria and Deresa bells are kept on the 1th and 2th floors of the museum.

Related Places and Figures

• Maegoe Museum: A museum inside Gamgok Church (Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia).
• Maegoe School: Originating in the Maegoe School founded by Father Bouillon in 1907, it became Maegoe Commercial School in 1953 and was accredited as Maegoe Girls' Middle and Commercial School in 1966 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia).
• Bueonggol Parish (Bupyeong-ri, Gangcheon-myeon, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do): The parish that had jurisdiction over this area before Gamgok Parish was founded, closed in 1896 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Offshoot parishes: Jeungpyeong (Gomari), Sudong (Cheongju), Chungju, and Geumwang (Mugeuk) Parishes (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Korean Church History Research Institute, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia "Gamgok Parish." Founding of Janghowon Parish on September 17, 1896, transfer from Bueonggol Parish, first church in 1903~1904, school founding, church construction in 1930, late Japanese period, offshoot parishes, church statistics and successive priests.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/195
2. Academy of Korean Studies, Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture "Eumseong Gamgok Church." Designation as Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage in 1996, hanok church in 1903, Gothic church structure designed by Father Sijalle, Statue of Our Lady of Maegoe, designation as Marian pilgrimage church in 2006.
   https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0043001
3. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia "Birthplace of Catholicism in Chungcheongbuk-do, Gamgok Maegoe Marian Pilgrimage Church." How the site was secured, parish history, Father Bouillon, Maegoe Museum, approval as Marian pilgrimage shrine in 2006.
   https://www.grandculture.net/eumseong/toc/GC01102315
4. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Eumseong Culture Encyclopedia "Eumseong Museum Where Past, Present and Future Come Together." Father Bouillon and the history of Gamgok Church, dedication in 1904, new construction in 1930, jurisdiction after 1953, cultural heritage designation, Maegoe Museum exhibitions.
   https://www.grandculture.net/eumseong/toc/GC01102329