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Korean
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About this place
Suanbo Church is a parish church of the Catholic Diocese of Cheongju in Suanbo-myeon, Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do. The diocesan district listing places it in the Jungwon district, and the official parish directory identifies St. Francis Xavier as its patron saint. It is the liturgical and pastoral center where Catholics in Suanbo and nearby areas continue their communal life of faith centered on Mass and the sacraments.
Suanbo is widely known for its hot springs and tourism, but the church’s primary meaning lies in the continuing faith life of the local Catholic community. The parish’s history shows a pattern of growth connected with surrounding mission stations and the Catholic community of the Yeonpung area, with Suanbo serving as one of the centers in that development. Visitors can therefore understand it not merely as a religious facility in a tourist destination, but as a parish under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier that has sustained liturgy and community life for Catholics in the Jungwon area.
History & origins
The direct beginning of Suanbo Parish is traced to the end of 1955, when Fr. Joseph Ok Bo-eul of Chungju Parish established Suanbo Mission Station in Anbo-ri. According to a Catholic Times of Korea article marking the parish’s 60th anniversary, this mission station marked the point at which the post-liberation Catholic community of the Suanbo area appears clearly in the historical record.
Suanbo Mission Station became a parish on February 20, 1963, a date also recorded as the parish’s establishment date in the official directory of the Diocese of Cheongju. As a new parish it received responsibility for Suhoe, Jangyeon, and Yeonpung mission stations, as well as Mireuk-ri and Taeseong, and by 1969 the parish community had grown to 1,102 Catholics across five mission stations.
Groundbreaking for the parish church took place in July 1964, and the church was completed and dedicated on November 29, 1965. The jurisdiction later changed: Taeseong Mission Station was transferred back to Goesan Parish, while Yeonpung Mission Station separated as a quasi-parish in 2011. This shows how Suanbo once served as a pastoral center linking a broad surrounding region and then saw new pastoral units emerge as local communities developed.
In 2023 the parish celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving for its 60th anniversary. From its beginnings as a mission station in 1955, through parish establishment in 1963, church construction, and changes in the network of mission stations, its history shows the long continuity of Catholic life in the Jungwon area.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Su-an-bo Catholic Church: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 0
- 2 above-ground floors · 0 below-ground floors
- Total floor area: 1,240㎡
Building-register record · · Source
Accessibility information
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Cheongju Diocese (Diocese of Cheongju)
Official website: https://www.cdcj.or.kr
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