Jukrim-dong Cathedral

Overview

Jukrim-dong Cathedral (Sacred Heart Parish) is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Chuncheon at Yaksago Pass in Yaksadong, Chuncheon, and the first parish in the Chuncheon area. It began when the Gomsil Catholic mission chapel was elevated to a parish on September 22, 1920, and the present church held its groundbreaking on April 5, 1949, was destroyed in the Korean War, was restored, and was dedicated on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 8, 1956. In June 2003 it was registered as National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 54.

History

According to MS Today’s series on Catholicism in Chuncheon, the first parish in Gangwon Province was Pungsuwon Church, where Father Le Mer of the Paris Foreign Missions Society was dispatched as parish priest in 1888. Eom Ju-eon (Martino, Malding), a native of Norumok in Dong-myeon, Chuncheon, was moved in his youth by reading “Cheonjushirui” and “Jugyo Yoji,” learned catechism at Cheonjinam in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do with his eldest brother and seven family members in 1893, and was baptized by a French priest with his brother in 1894. After the whole family was baptized, they returned to Chuncheon in 1896, but met with cold treatment, were driven from their home village, and settled at Utneubraengi in Goeun-ri, Dongnae-myeon. Later, in 1910, he moved to Gomsil and prepared a chapel; this is the Gomsil Catholic mission chapel, the predecessor of Jukrim-dong Cathedral. Good News Catholic Information explains that through Eom Ju-eon’s exemplary life of faith and charity, nearly 300 faithful came to be.

According to the parish guide of the Diocese of Chuncheon, the Gomsil Catholic mission chapel was a mission chapel under Pungsuwon Parish, visited three or four times a year by Father Jeong Gyu-ha (Augustino), when the faithful gathered in private homes and in the “hall” for Mass. When the faithful reached more than 300, establishing a parish and stationing a resident priest became urgent, and Eom Ju-eon traveled between Pungsuwon Parish and Myeongdong Church in Seoul to request a resident priest. Father Kim Yu-ryong (Philippo), ordained on September 18, 1920, arrived on September 22 of that year, making Gomsil Catholic mission chapel the first parish in the Chuncheon area. According to a letter from the first parish priest, Father Kim Yu-ryong, cited in the shrine guide of the Diocese of Chuncheon, the jurisdiction at the time covered 15 mission chapels in 6 counties—Chuncheon, Inje, Gapyeong, Yanggu, Hwacheon, and Hongcheon—and about 1 thousand faithful.

The parish moved to advance into downtown Chuncheon. MS Today, Good News, and The Catholic Times explain that in 1928 Eom Ju-eon bought land below the present Jukrim-dong church, prepared the Chuncheon parish, and opened the Jukrim-dong era. Father Thomas Quinlan (Thomas F. Quinlan, Gu In-ran), who arrived in 1938 as the 5 parish priest of Chuncheon Parish, was according to Good News the first foreigner to become parish priest of Chuncheon Parish, and soon after his arrival purchased nearby land to secure the site of the present church. The parish guide of the Diocese of Chuncheon states that the present Jukrim-dong church was built on the Yaksari site to which the Gomsil mission chapel had moved and on the hill purchased by Father Quinlan. Its attached Sacred Heart Kindergarten began as Sohwa Kindergarten on December 15, 1930, closed in 1944, and reopened as Sacred Heart Kindergarten in 1978.

The groundbreaking for the church took place on April 5, 1949. The Catholic Times reports that the first shovel was turned on ground prepared by lay president Eom Ju-eon, the faithful, and Father Quinlan, and that the Korean War broke out in 1950, after the outer walls and even the copper-plate roof had been completed. Priests were dragged away by the People’s Army during Mass, one wall of the church collapsed in an air raid, and during the war Sisters of the Missionary Society of St. Columban cared for residents and shared food on this site. Good News explains that the church was partly damaged in a United Nations counteroffensive air raid in May 1951, and that Father Comerford, who arrived in August 1951 as the 13 parish priest, began restoration, largely completing it in 1953 with help from the U.S. military and the Holy See. According to MS Today, Father Quinlan was arrested by the People’s Army, endured the “Death March,” returned alive from a prison camp in 1953, also serving as acting papal delegate, and when the Diocese of Chuncheon was raised from a prefecture to a vicariate in 1955, he took office as the first Vicar Apostolic of Chuncheon and was ordained bishop. On June 8, 1956 the dedication of the cathedral was celebrated.

Good News records that the parish name was changed to Jukrim-dong Parish in 1950, and The Catholic Times reports that Soyang-ro Parish was established in January 1950 after branching from Jukrim-dong Parish. According to MS Today, Bishop Quinlan was born in Ireland, entered the country in 1934, was assigned as parish priest of Jukrim-dong Church in 1938, and served as the 2 (1940–1941) and 4 (1945–1955) Prefect Apostolic of Chuncheon, Vicar Apostolic of Chuncheon (1955–1962), and first Bishop of Chuncheon (1962–1966). He opened St. Columban Clinic in Chuncheon (1956), St. Joseph Clinic in Samcheok (1961), and Calvary Clinic in Gangneung (1964), and completed the bishop’s residence in Hyoja-dong in 1958.

The church has since been repaired several times. According to the shrine guide of the Diocese of Chuncheon, as it aged over time, Bishop Jang Ik, enthroned as Bishop of Chuncheon in 1994, carried out a major restoration over 5 months in 1998, preserving the historic form of the church’s interior and exterior spaces while making the interior fitting for the liturgy and artistically satisfying. The Catholic Times (2022) reports that artists of the Catholic Artists Association—including Choi Jong-tae, Choi Ui-sun, Lee Chun-man, Choi Yeong-sim, Ju Ye-gyeong, Kim Yeong-seop, and Sister Kim De-resita—took part in the work, and that artist Lee Chun-man restored in granite the outdoor Madonna and Child (original by Kim Se-jung, 1970, white cement). According to Good News, the blessing of Malding Hall (including the rectory) was celebrated in April 1999, and on June 25, 2003 it was registered as Registered Cultural Heritage No. 54 of modern cultural heritage. On December 1, 2013 the blessing of the sanctification project, which created a front garden, middle courtyard, and cloister on the lot in front of the church, was celebrated, and on June 1, 2014 the blessing of the installation of a bronze statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was celebrated.

Architecture and Space

The Catholic Times (2022) introduces Jukrim-dong Church as a representative stone building erected by the Columban missionaries. Entering through the door beneath the bell tower, an interior 11 meters wide and 43 meters long opens out, with a pillar-free interior and arched ceiling creating a simple yet sacred atmosphere. The Catholic Times (2025) describes it as a church built of granite, and reports that 14 Stations of the Cross can be offered in the middle courtyard and cloister in front of the church.

According to The Catholic Times (2025), on the right side of the church stands a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by artist Choi Jong-tae (Joseph), and on the left stands a Madonna and Child re-erected by artist Lee Chun-man (Christina) preserving the original by artist Kim Se-jung (Francisco). The bronze doors of the church bear a pair of old Irish-style cross patterns and reliefs of the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt and the Sermon on the Mount; the cross patterns honor the work of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, which preached the Gospel in Gangwon-do and helped build the cathedral after the war. At the entrance there are also portraits of Bishop Quinlan and Martino Eom Ju-eon. With works by so many Catholic artists, it is called a treasury of Korean Catholic art.

Meaning for Faith and Context for Visiting

Behind the church lies the cemetery of the martyrs and clergy of the Diocese of Chuncheon. According to The Catholic Times (2022), 25 priests who ministered in the Diocese of Chuncheon and died, along with martyrs, rest here, and in the Martyrs’ Month of September 2017 Bishop Kim Woon-hoe (Luke), the 7 bishop of the diocese, issued a decree proclaiming the Jukrim-dong cemetery, where Korean War martyrs are buried, a shrine. Buried here are Father Antonio (Anthony Collier) of Soyang-ro Parish, martyred in 1950 as a Columban missionary, Father Jin Yagobo (James Maginn) of Samcheok Parish, and Father Ra Badricio (Patrick Reilly) of Mukho Parish. For Father Lee Gwang-jae (Timoteo) of Yangyang Parish, martyred in North Korea whose remains could not be recovered, Father Son Francisco (Francis Canavan), who died in the Junggangjin prisoner camp on the Yalu River, Father Kim Gyo-myeong (Benedicto), and Father Baek Eung-man (Damaso), cenotaphs have been prepared for prayer. The tomb of Bishop Thomas Gu In-ran and of successive bishops is also here.

Related Places and People

• Gomsil Catholic mission chapel: the predecessor of Jukrim-dong Cathedral in Dongnae-myeon, Chuncheon, a mission chapel founded by Eom Ju-eon.
• Pungsuwon Church: the first parish in Gangwon Province, which had jurisdiction over the Gomsil mission chapel.
• Eom Ju-eon (Martino, Malding): the lay president who founded the Gomsil mission chapel and secured the site of Jukrim-dong Church.
• Bishop Quinlan (Thomas Gu In-ran): the first bishop of the Diocese of Chuncheon, who broke ground for and dedicated the present church.
• Father Kim Yu-ryong (Philippo): the first parish priest, assigned to Gomsil Parish in 1920.
• Soyang-ro Church: a parish branched from Jukrim-dong Parish in January 1950.

References and Sources

1. Catholic Diocese of Chuncheon, Parish Guide: Jukrim-dong Cathedral Parish. Confirmed the background of the parish foundation in 1920, the Gomsil mission chapel, the groundbreaking in 1949, the dedication in 1956, and Sacred Heart Kindergarten.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/1
2. Catholic Diocese of Chuncheon, Shrine Guide: Jukrim-dong Cathedral. Confirmed the jurisdiction of Gomsil Parish, the construction history, the major restoration in 1998, and the sanctification project in 2013.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/holyland/1?t=1
3. Good News Catholic Information, Jukrim-dong Cathedral and Martyrs’ Shrine (Diocesan Martyrs’ Cemetery). Confirmed Eom Ju-eon’s evangelization, the move in 1928, Father Quinlan, wartime restoration, later maintenance after 1999, and registration in 2003.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace?seq=2266
4. MS Today, Chuncheon Stories in Records and Testimonies: Catholicism and Chuncheon—Gomsil Mission Chapel and Jukrim-dong Cathedral (August 24, 2023). Confirmed Eom Ju-eon’s baptism and settlement, the elevation of Gomsil mission chapel to a parish, and Bishop Quinlan’s career and activities.
   https://www.mstoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=84961
5. The Catholic Times, A Walk Through Church Museums Near Us (14) Jukrim-dong Cemetery Shrine and Jukrim-dong Cathedral in the Diocese of Chuncheon (July 5, 2022). Confirmed the scale of the church, the artists in the 1998 restoration, and the martyrs’ and clergy cemetery.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/202207050124953
6. The Catholic Times, Pilgrimage on Foot in Prayer: Jukrim-dong Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Chuncheon (March 2025). Confirmed wartime damage during construction, the sanctification in 2013, sacred-art works, and the bronze doors.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/20250321500028
7. The Catholic Times, A Preview Walk on the Pilgrimage Route Meeting Chuncheon’s Modern Cultural Heritage (August 2022). Confirmed the branching of Soyang-ro Parish in January 1950.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/202208160130371