Gomari Mission

History & origins

The earliest history of Gomari Mission Station cannot be reduced to one exact “foundation date.” Later yearbooks and local chronologies give differing years, but Catholic historical research identifies the mission station called “Nop-eun Sarang-i,” the former name associated with Gomari, in the 1892–1893 pastoral statistics of Bu-eong-gol Parish. The documentary evidence therefore supports the existence of a Catholic mission community here at least by the late nineteenth century. After the center of Bu-eong-gol Parish was moved in 1896 to Janghowon, today's Gamgok, Gomari came under that parish's jurisdiction.

As the Catholic community grew, Gomari became the center of an independent parish in 1920. Fr. Paul Yun Ui-byeong arrived as the first pastor that same year, and the parish was responsible for a broad territory extending across Goesan, Boeun, Cheongju, Eumseong, and Jincheon, together with numerous mission stations. Catechesis and evangelization became active, and the 1920s also saw educational work and the presence of religious sisters. Because of the mountainous location and pastoral conditions, however, the parish center was moved to Jeungpyeong in 1936, and Gomari returned to mission-station status.

Gomari later passed through several changes of pastoral jurisdiction before becoming a mission station of Goesan Parish. In 1980, commemorative events recalled the history of the former parish, and a Marian grotto and a monument to Fr. Yun Ui-byeong were established. Construction of a new chapel began in 1991, and on May 23, 1992 it was blessed and dedicated to the Korean Martyr Saints. This chronology shows that Gomari is more than a rural mission station: it preserves the memory of a parish that once served a broad area of central Chungcheongbuk-do.