Gasir Catholic Church

Overview

Gasil Church is a church in Naksan-ri, Waegwan-eup, Chilgok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, belonging to the Archdiocese of Daegu. It was founded by Father Paillasse of the Paris Foreign Missions Society and is one of the early parishes in the North Gyeongsang region; the present church building and rectory are designated as Gyeongsangbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage. Its patron is St. Anne.

History

[Arrival of the Gospel] The Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia explains that the Naksan-ri area was a small village by the Nakdong River where, in the Joseon period, the Gasil Ferry and the Gangchang Ferry made water traffic frequent. It writes that this source reports that in 1784, the founding period of Catholicism in Korea, Seong Seop of the Changnyeong Seong family, who was studying Chinese classics here, accepted the truth of Catholicism in his later years, so the Gospel reached that family. Seong Seop died in 1788, and during the Shinhae Persecution of 1791 or the Sinyu Persecution of 1801, some descendants fled to Homsil in Seongju while the rest remained in Gasil and continued their life of faith. The family tradition holds that Seong Seop's great-grandson Seong Sun-gyo was martyred in Sangju during the Gyeongsin Persecution of 1860.

[Parish foundation] The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia records that Father Robert (Robert), appointed as the priest in charge of Gyeongsang-do after the persecutions ended, lived in Sinnamugol and moved to Saebanggol near Daegu in 1887, and that Father Camillus Paillhasse (Camillus Paillhasse, Ha Gyeong-jo), who entered the country in 1894, came to Sinnamugol in June of that year, evangelized northern Gyeongsang-do, and moved to Gasil around September, when the parish was founded. Father Paillasse bought a tiled house owned by Kim Hoe-du (Peter) and made it the church; his mission area at the time covered Chilgok as well as Seongju, Seonsan, Mungyeong, Sangju, Hamchang, Gunwi, Andong, Yecheon, Uiseong, Gimcheon, Geochang and Anui in northwestern Gyeongsang-do, plus Hwanggan in Chungcheong-do and Muju in Jeolla-do, with 17 Catholic mission chapels and 777 faithful. Sources differ on the founding date. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia gives around September 1894 as the founding date, the Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia states that it was formally founded in September 1895 with the help of the faithful after the end of the Donghak Revolution, and the Archdiocese of Daegu parish information gives June 11, 1895 as the founding date. The Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia states that this church was the 11 parish in the Joseon Diocese and the parish established after Gyesan Church in the Daegu Diocese, and that at the time of foundation the parish jurisdiction included 31 Catholic mission chapels in the Chilgok, Seongju, Gimcheon, Seonsan, Sangju, Mungyeong, Yecheon, Gunwi and Yeongcheon areas, which the pastor visited on horseback or on foot at least twice a year. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia explains that Gasil was the old name of Bondong in Naksan-ri and was later renamed 'Naksan Parish'.

[Early pastors] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, after the first pastor Father Paillasse (1894.9~1898.6) was transferred to Duseop Parish in Jangyeon, Hwanghae-do, the 2 pastor Father Kim Seong-hak (Alix) took office, evangelized for 3 years, and left when Gimcheon Parish was separated and founded in 1901. The 3 pastor Father Alphonse Joyau (Joyau) expanded the church and built a new rectory in 1903, increasing the number of faithful from over 800 at the time of his arrival to about 1,400, but contracted leprosy and died of illness on January 12, 1907 at the age of 30. Bishop Mutel appointed Father Hippolyte Saucet (Saucet) as the 4 pastor, and he took office in May. In April 1911, when the Daegu Diocese was separated from the Seoul Diocese, Gasil Parish came to belong to the Daegu Diocese.

[Father Tourneux period] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the 5 pastor Father Tourneux (Tourneux, Yeo Dong-seon) took office on May 29, 1912 and spent most of the Japanese colonial period with the faithful here until his death from chronic illness in March 1944. In 1922, Jeomchon Parish in Mungyeong and Toegang Parish in Sangju were divided off, reducing the jurisdiction together with Gimcheon Parish. Together with the faithful he built the church and the rectory, and on September 28, 1925 the church blessing ceremony was held, officiated by Apostolic Delegate Giardini and attended by Bishop Demange. He then devoted himself to evangelization in the Waegwan area, beginning construction of a church with the faithful of the Catholic mission chapel in February 1928, completing it in November, and separating Waegwan Parish in May of the following year. With the establishment of Waegwan Parish, its third daughter parish, Gasil Parish declined, and in 1933 Bishop Demange designated Gasil Parish as a rest parish for elderly priests. After Father Tourneux retired in February 1943, Father Julien Bermond (Bermond), who had been in Masan, took office as the 6 pastor, and from this time 'Gasil Parish' came to be called 'Naksan Parish'.

[Around Liberation and the 6-25 War] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, when the Japanese Government-General confined foreign missionaries to Namsan Parish in Daegu in March 1945, Father Lee Myeong-u (James) took office at Waegwan Parish on April 13 and concurrently served as the 7 pastor of Naksan Parish. Father Bertrand (J. Bertrand) served as the 8 pastor (1945.8~1946.1), Father An Guk-mok (Margarino) as the 9, Father Shin Sang-jo (Stefano) as the 10, Father Kim Yeong-je (John) as the 11, and Father Ryu Seon-i (Joseph) as the 12 pastor; around Liberation and the 6-25 War the pastors changed frequently, and at times the pastor of Waegwan Parish concurrently served as pastor of Naksan Parish. In June 1952, when the Waegwan Vicariate was established, Naksan Parish came to belong to it, and Father Choe Yeong-ho (Vianney) of the Benedictine Order took office as the 13 pastor before moving to Jeomchon Parish in November 1953. Under the 14 pastor Father Ansgar Muller (A. Müller), the newly ordained Father Kim Seong-do (Moses) was appointed as the first assistant priest, and on December 8, 1954 the 60 anniversary celebration of the parish foundation was held, followed by the parish's first Eucharistic procession on June 12 of the following year. During the 6-25 War of 1950 (Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia), Naksan Village was destroyed by heavy fighting, but the church building survived because it was used as a hospital by the People's Army.

[Since the 1960s] According to the Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia, following the new liturgy of the 2 Vatican Council, in 1964 the sanctuary area around the altar was largely altered and slightly expanded to create a sacristy. This source states that a large wooden cross was enshrined on the altar inside the church in 1964 in place of the statue of St. Anne. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia records that under the 18 pastor Father Lee Dong-sik (Benedict), a branch of the Eucharistic Association was founded in September 1968 and withdrawn in August 1970, and that from the mid-1970s the number of faithful fell sharply due to rural-to-urban migration, remaining at 600~700 from the 1980s onward. The Legion of Mary was introduced in January 1986; on February 28, 1986 the Waegwan Vicariate was abolished and the parish returned to the Archdiocese of Daegu; and in October 1990 a memorial hall for the 100 anniversary of the foundation was built. Father Lee Dong-sik, who took office in January 1989 as the 23 pastor, continued the pastoral ministry. In the Great Jubilee Year of 2000, the Oriental painter Son Seok-hui produced the 14 Stations, and a German painter produced the tabernacle and the stained-glass works; in 2004 it became a filming location for the film 'Priest Training'; and on January 2, 2005, it recovered its original name Gasil Church instead of 'Naksan Church', which had been used since 1956. Gasil is the old name of Naksan and means 'beautiful house,' and the house in question is said to be the house of the family of Seong Sun-gyo (Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia).

[Church statistics and present status] The church statistics recorded in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia are 777 in 1894, 1,400 in 1903, 1,343 in 1965, 1,319 in 1971, 994 in 1978, 719 in 1983, 662 in 1988, and 771 in 1993. The Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia states that in 2011 Father Hyeon Ik-hyeon (Bartholomew) resigned and Father Hwang Dong-hwan (Isaac) took office, and that the number of faithful, which had once exceeded 1,000, had fallen to about 500 as the jurisdiction narrowed and industrialization and urbanization progressed. Its jurisdiction includes Naksan 1~3-ri, Geumnam 1~2-ri and Geumsan 1~2-ri in Waegwan-eup, while the Hasan Catholic mission chapel covers Hasan 1~2-ri, Bonchon 1~2-ri and Gammun 1~2-ri in Habin-myeon, Dalseong-gun, Daegu Metropolitan City.

Architecture and space

According to the Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia, the present Gasil Church building was built in 1922~1923, in Romanesque style with Neo-Gothic elements, and its designer was the French priest Father Poisnel (V. L. Poisnel). Father Poisnel designed many church buildings of Catholicism in Korea, including Gyesan Church in Daegu and Waegwan Church in Chilgok, over 30 years from 1896 to 1925. The construction used red bricks fired on site by Chinese technicians, and it is said that the then pastor, the French priest Father Yeo Dong-seon (Victor Louis Tourneux), built it after tapping each brick to check it. The Naksan Parish entry in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia states that Father Tourneux designed and supervised its completion in 1925.

The Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia states that the statue of the Virgin Mary in the church was imported from France at the time of construction and its frame was brought from China. It is said that the patron St. Anne is Korea's only statue of St. Anne, made of plaster in France before 1924, and that the 'Emmaus' tabernacle has a cloisonne front on the theme of 'Emmaus' or the 'Resurrection Tabernacle'. The martyrs' monument is said to commemorate the family of the Silhak scholar Seong Seop of about 200 years ago and the martyrdom of his great-grandson Seong Sun-gyo in Sangju. According to the same source, the church and the rectory were designated as Gyeongsangbuk-do Tangible Cultural Property No. 348 in 2003; on November 19, 2021 the designation number was abolished by a public notice of the Cultural Heritage Administration and they were re-designated as Gyeongsangbuk-do Tangible Cultural Property; and on May 17, 2024, with the enforcement of the Framework Act on National Heritage, they were changed to Gyeongsangbuk-do Tangible Cultural Heritage.

Related places and figures

• Waegwan Church: a daughter parish separated and founded from Gasil Parish around May 1929 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Sinnamugol: the place where Father Paillasse first arrived and stayed in June 1894 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia).
• Gimcheon Parish: separated and founded from Gasil Parish in 1901 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Jeomchon Parish and Toegang Parish: divided off from Gasil Parish in 1922 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Father Poisnel (V. L. Poisnel): the French priest whom the Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia names as the designer of Gasil Church.
• Father Yeo Dong-seon (Victor Louis Tourneux): took office as the 5 pastor of Gasil Parish in May 1912 and spent most of the Japanese colonial period here until his death in March 1944 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Seong Seop and Seong Sun-gyo: the scholar of the Changnyeong Seong family through whom the Gospel reached Gasil, and his great-grandson (Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia).

References and sources

1. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia 'Chilgok Gasil Church'. Background of foundation, arrival of the Gospel, architectural style and designer, appearance during the 6-25 War, cultural heritage designation history, present status.
   https://www.grandculture.net/chilgok/toc/GC02301443
2. Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Naksan Parish' (Vol. 2). Foundation, successive pastors, church statistics, divisions and changes, church blessing (1925), separation of Waegwan Parish.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/1028
3. Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Gasil Parish' (Vol. 1). Background of the foundation of Gasil Parish and renaming to Naksan Parish.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/42
4. Archdiocese of Daegu, Parish Information 'Gasil Church'. Founding date June 11, 1895, patron St. Anne.
   https://www.daegu-archdiocese.or.kr/page/area.html?menu=c4&number=28&premenu=c1&srl=church_search&y_id=28