Yang-eop Spirituality Center

History & origins

The background of the Yangup Spiritual Center is connected with the development of Baeti as a shrine preserving the memory of persecution-era Catholic villages and the ministry of Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop. According to Baeti Shrine’s official introduction, Father Choe lived in the Baeti Catholic village from the summer of 1853, made it a center of his pastoral ministry, and guided seminarians of the Apostolic Vicariate of Korea there. Much later, Baeti was developed as a shrine where this history could be preserved, studied, and encountered through pilgrimage.

The official chronology of the Yangup Institute of Church History at Baeti records that on December 3, 2002, a blessing ceremony for the “Yangup Spiritual Center” and a Mass marking the institute’s third anniversary were held. This date establishes when the center formally took its place within the shrine as a dedicated retreat facility. In an environment devoted to studying and remembering the life and faith of Father Choe Yang-eop, the center added a place where pilgrims could remain for prayer and reflection.

In 2026 Baeti Shrine posted new official information stating that the “Yangup Spiritual Center retreat house” would be available for use from April 1, together with updated facility guidance. This shows that the center blessed in 2002 continues its purpose as a retreat house while its practical arrangements are renewed. In this way, the Yangup Spiritual Center has developed as a space connecting the shrine’s historical study and pilgrimage memory with residential prayer and spiritual reflection.