Gamgok Maegoe Virgin Mary Pilgrimage Site

Overview

The Gamgok Maegoe Our Lady Pilgrimage Church is a church under the Cheongju Diocese located in Gamgok-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do. Founded in 1896 as Gamgok Parish (originally named Janghowon Parish), it is the first Catholic church established in Chungcheongbuk-do, and its patron is Our Lady of Maegoe (the Rosary). The Cheongju Diocese designated this church as an Our Lady pilgrimage church in 2006, and the church building was designated as a Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Property (now Tangible Cultural Heritage) in 1996.

History

The first parish priest, Father Im Gamilo (Bu Yi-yong, C. Bouillon), was a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society who was ordained in 1893 and entered the country, and in 1894 was appointed to Bueonggol Parish in Yeoju, his first ministry post. Considering Bueonggol unsuitable as a parish location and thinking of relocating the parish, he saw a large house below the mountain in Janghowon and judged it most suitable as a parish ministry site, and the Cheongju Diocese shrine introduction recounts that he prayed that if that house and mountain were given to him, he would make its patron Our Lady of Maegoe.

This house was the house of Min Eung-sik, the elder cousin of Empress Myeongseong, where Empress Myeongseong had taken refuge during the Imo Military Revolt in 1882. The Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture states that this house, reduced to ruins amid fighting between righteous armies and Japanese troops in late 1895, was purchased at a low price. In May 1896 he purchased the house site and hill, and by moving his residence to Janghowon on September 17, 1896, the parish was established. The Cheongju Diocese shrine introduction records the parish founding date as October 7, the feast of Our Lady Queen of the Rosary, so dates differ by source.

Father Im Gamilo ministered here for 51 years, from 1896 until his death in 1947. In 1943, when Japanese leveled ground to build a shrine halfway up Maesan, Father Im buried a Miraculous Medal of the Immaculate Conception at the construction site and prayed that if construction were halted he would dedicate the place to Our Lady, and construction never progressed before liberation came. That site was dedicated as Marian Square on the Solemnity of the Assumption in 1955, and on October 4, 2018, on the occasion of the 100th Gamgok Eucharistic Congress (the 122th anniversary of the parish establishment and the 60th anniversary of the Cheongju Diocese establishment), Marian Square was expanded and the Maegoe Our Lady Grotto was dedicated. The Eucharistic Congress has been held every year on the first Thursday in October since 1914, and reached its 106th edition in 2024.

On October 7, 2006, through a decree of the Bishop of Cheongju it was designated as the Maegoe Our Lady pilgrimage site, and the Cheongju Diocese shrine introduction states that Bishop Gabriel Jang Bong-hun designated it as a pilgrimage church.

Architecture and Space

The church built in 1903 was a Korean-Western eclectic rectangular 3-aisled single-story tile-roofed wooden hanok church (80 pyeong) with 3 bays on the front and 10 bays on the sides. In 1930 the present Western-style church was newly built, a Gothic building 40 m long, 15 m wide, with a 36.5-m-high bell tower, designed by Father Sijalle (Chizallet, 池士元) of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. In 1934 a 2-story granite rectory was built.

The statue of Our Lady of Maegoe in front of the altar was made at the Shrine of Lourdes in France and installed in 1930, and it still bears the marks of 7 bullets fired by the People’s Army during the Korean War. The museum remodeled from the old rectory displays the monstrance, gold chasuble, stole and shoes used by Father Im Gamilo since the first Eucharistic procession in 1914, as well as old parish documents, photographs and other items.

Related Places and Figures

• Father Im Gamilo (Bu Yi-yong): served as the first pastor from 1896 to 1947.
• Bueonggol (Buheunggol) Parish: a parish formerly in Bupyeong-ri, Gangcheon-myeon, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do, abolished when it was moved to Gamgok.
• Mugeuk Church: separated from Gamgok Maegoe Church and established on September 6, 1957 (Digital Eumseong Cultural Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Academy of Korean Studies, Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture, “Eumseong Gamgok Church”. Confirmation of designation as Chungcheongbuk-do Tangible Cultural Property in 1996, founding circumstances, the church in 1903 and the church in 1930, designer and scale, and the statue of Our Lady.
   https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0043001
2. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Eumseong Cultural Encyclopedia, “Church”. Confirmation of founding on September 17, 1896, first in Chungcheongbuk-do, 18th in the country, new construction in 1930, rectory in 1934, and separation of Mugeuk Church.
   https://www.grandculture.net/eumseong/toc/GC01101817
3. Cheongju Diocese, Shrine Introduction: Gamgok Maegoe Our Lady Pilgrimage Church. Confirmation of founding circumstances, the house of Min Eung-sik, and designation as a pilgrimage church in 2006.
   https://www.cdcj.or.kr/parish/holyland/11
4. Catholic Newspaper, “[Pilgrimage, Walking and Praying] Gamgok Maegoe Our Lady Pilgrimage Church of the Cheongju Diocese” (2024). Confirmation of Father Im Gamilo’s ministry period, the shrine-site incident, Marian Square and the Marian grotto, the Eucharistic Congress, and the museum.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/20241014500037