Sancheong Church

History & origins

The beginnings of the Catholic parish in Sancheong can be traced to a small community of faith around the time of the Korean War. Jeong Tae-jo, Fabian, who was baptized in a field hospital in 1951, returned to his hometown of Sancheong and, together with Park Jong-cheon, Peter, and others, traveled to the distant Hamyang Catholic Church while preparing to establish a mission station. Diocesan records state that in 1955, through the efforts of Jeong Tae-jo, Park Jong-cheon, Park Ok-sun, Teresa, and others, land was secured in Saek-dong, Sancheong-myeon, the Sancheong mission station was established, and the first baptisms took place that year.

The mission station grew with pastoral support from Hamyang Parish. Its pastor, Fr. Park Mun-seon, James, and the faithful worked to secure a more accessible central site in preparation for eventual elevation to parish status. Under Bishop John Choi Jae-seon of the Diocese of Busan and his pastoral policy of “one parish in every county,” the Sancheong mission station was elevated to a parish on December 20, 1965. It then had responsibility for thirteen mission stations in the county, including Sangjung, and the Catholic community numbered about 700 people, including catechumens.

On September 20, 1966, the new church was dedicated in a liturgy presided over by Bishop Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the first bishop of the Diocese of Masan. The church was established as a memorial marking the centenary of the Byeongin Persecution, and sword and laurel motifs were placed on the altar base and parish banner as symbols of martyrdom and the victory of faith.

The formation of Sancheong Parish shows a pattern of rural evangelization in which the practice of faith by a few people gave rise to a mission station and then to a parish embracing many outlying communities. In particular, the church dedicated in remembrance of the centenary of the persecution became a historical marker through which Catholics in Sancheong connected the story of their own beginnings with the martyr tradition of the Korean Church.