Today's Masses
Weekly Mass Schedule
Korean
Select a Mass time to view sources or report a change.
About this place
Soyang-ro Catholic Church is a parish church in the Chuncheon District of the Diocese of Chuncheon and is dedicated to Saint Patrick. It serves the Catholic community in the northern part of central Chuncheon while also preserving the memory of Father Anthony Collier, who was killed during the Korean War. The present church building is widely noted for its unusual semicircular plan and fan-shaped seating arranged around the altar.
The building also holds an important place in the history of modern Catholic architecture in Korea. The Korea Heritage Service describes Soyang-ro Catholic Church as a religious building with a restrained modern design and an unusual spatial plan, and it is protected as a National Registered Cultural Heritage property. The church is therefore both a living parish worship space and a place where the memory of war and the development of modern Catholic architecture in Korea can be encountered together.
History & origins
Soyang-ro Parish was established as Catholic life expanded in Chuncheon after liberation and a new parish became necessary to serve the area north of Jukrim-dong. In 1949 the diocese acquired property that included a house, and Father Anthony Collier, appointed as the first pastor, converted the existing Korean house for use as a church and rectory. On January 5, 1950, Soyang-ro Parish was formally erected after being separated from Jukrim-dong Parish.
The parish soon experienced tragedy when the Korean War broke out later that year. After urging parishioners to seek safety, Father Collier remained to watch over the situation. On June 27 he was captured and was shot near the Gongjicheon area. Diocesan records remember that he protected the altar server who was with him by shielding him with his body. Soyang-ro Church later came to carry the meaning of a memorial church honoring this self-sacrificing death.
Construction of a permanent church, interrupted by the war, resumed in March 1956, and the completed building was dedicated in September of the same year. Its semicircular plan and fan-shaped seating, unusual in Korean Catholic architecture at the time, brought the congregation closer to the altar. Recognized for this pioneering modern architectural character, the church was registered as a National Registered Cultural Heritage property in 2005, and conservation work from 2007 to 2010 restored its original form. The history of Soyang-ro Church thus brings together parish foundation, wartime sacrifice, postwar rebuilding, and the introduction of modern church architecture in one place.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Soyangro 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.
Would you like to record this place in your pilgrimage passport?
Sign in to keep this record with you.
Building information
- Passenger elevators: 0
- 2 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Total floor area: 1,097㎡
Building-register record · · Source
Accessibility information
Accessibility information is not available yet. Please check with the location before visiting.
Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Chuncheon Diocese (Diocese of Chuncheon)
Official website: http://www.cccatholic.or.kr
Help verify information
Did the Mass schedule or church information change?
Let us know if you confirmed the displayed information or noticed something different.
Information Status: Official source
Visited here? Share details about toilets, parking or ramps.
Sign in to leave a visitor check.
Sign in to confirm the schedule or report a change.
Reports are saved for review. Mass times are changed after evidence such as official sources is checked, not automatically based on visitor confirmations.