Yeonpung Martyrs' Shrine

History & origins

The beginnings of Catholic faith in Yeonpung reach back to the late eighteenth century, soon after the Catholic Church took root in Korea. The Diocese of Cheongju's shrine history states that a small community of believers had formed in Yeonpung by around the end of 1784. After the Sinyu Persecution of 1801, Catholics fled across Ihwaryeong and Saejae, and Yeonpung became a passageway for concealment and evangelization between Chungcheong and Gyeongsang provinces. Fr. Thomas Choe Yang-eop and French missionaries also traveled through the area, seeking out Catholics in secluded valleys and celebrating the sacraments for them.

The Byeongin Persecution of 1866 brought heavy losses to the Catholic community of Yeonpung. Believers were taken to the local government compound and nearby execution sites and martyred. Luke Hwang Seok-du, a native of Byeongbang-gol in Yeonpung-hyeon, was also martyred that year at Galmaemot together with Bishop Daveluy and others. His body was buried in his family's ancestral burial ground; the tomb was identified in 1979, and his remains were transferred to Yeonpung Shrine in 1982.

The modern development of the shrine gained momentum through the Church's efforts to preserve the memory of the martyrs. The site retains the Yeonpung Hyangcheong, a local administrative building from the Joseon period that was later also used as a Catholic mission-station building. As objects associated with punishment were discovered and martyrdom-related remains were preserved, Yeonpung developed beyond the site of a local parish community into one of the Diocese of Cheongju's principal martyrs' shrines.

A church commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of St. Luke Hwang Seok-du broke ground in 2013 and was dedicated on September 20, 2014. The church, the saint's tomb, the Hyangcheong, and the sites associated with martyrdom bring memories from different periods together in one place, preserving Yeonpung as a pilgrimage destination where the persecution and movement of Korean Catholics and the dedication of a lay leader can be contemplated together.