Soyang-ro Pilgrimage Church

History & origins

The origin of Soyang-ro as a pilgrimage church is directly connected with the martyrdom of Father Anthony Collier, the first pastor of Soyang-ro Parish. In 1949 property was acquired in preparation for a new parish, and Father Collier arrived and adapted an existing Korean house for use as a temporary church and rectory. The parish was formally established in January 1950, only a short time before the Korean War began.

As the war reached Chuncheon, Father Collier moved the Eucharist to safety and urged parishioners to flee. On June 27, 1950, while traveling toward Jukrim-dong with the altar server Gabriel Kim Gyeong-ho, he was captured and was shot near Gongjicheon. The diocesan account states that in his final moments he embraced the altar server to shield him. This event became the central reason Soyang-ro came to be remembered not merely as a place affected by war but as a pilgrimage site commemorating self-sacrifice for another person.

After the war, Bishop Quinlan arranged for memorial churches to be built in Soyang-ro, Seongnae-dong, and Mukho for priests who had died during the conflict, and Soyang-ro was the first of them to be completed. The unusual semicircular church completed in 1956 was later designated a National Registered Cultural Heritage property. The Diocese of Chuncheon named it a memorial church of self-sacrificing witness and established a pilgrimage route beginning there. In this way, Soyang-ro continues to turn the memory of one priest’s death into a place for reflection on the practice of peace and love.