Myeongaeok Shrine

History & origins

Meongeomok was a mountain refuge where Catholics formed a village community and preserved their faith during the persecutions of the nineteenth century. Church sources connect the area with Blessed Paul Pak Gyeong-hwa and his son Andrew Pak Sa-ui and record that Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop visited the Catholic village, celebrated Mass, and administered the sacraments. Father Choe’s letters and records connected with the Byeongin Persecution also preserve accounts of local believers who received baptism from him.

As persecution continued, members of the Meongeomok community were among those who died for the faith. Another shrine history published by the Diocese of Cheongju records that Ambrose Choe Yong-un, who had served as the leader of Meongeomok Mission Station, witnessed to his faith at the Cheongju military headquarters and was martyred. Meongeomok was therefore not merely a place of refuge but a Catholic village where community life, sacramental practice, and the memory of martyrdom became intertwined.

Recognizing this ecclesiastical history, the Diocese of Cheongju designated Meongeomok as a shrine on August 12, 2016. The diocese later undertook the construction of a Baptism Church commemorating the 200th anniversary of Father Choe Yang-eop’s birth, and on June 15, 2024, the church was dedicated in a liturgy presided over by the diocesan bishop.

In 2026, a Mass marked the tenth anniversary of the shrine’s designation. The continuing development of the shrine links present-day pilgrimage and prayer with the memory of Father Choe’s baptisms and pastoral ministry and with the Catholic village that preserved the faith under persecution.