Hanti Shrine

Overview

The Hanti Martyrs’ Shrine is a martyrs’ shrine of the Archdiocese of Daegu in Dongmyeong-myeon, Chilgok-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do. Believers who had gathered to escape persecution lived there as a Catholic village, and it is where martyrs executed during the Byeongin Persecution in 1868 are buried, with 37 confirmed martyrs’ graves to date. The shrine’s official homepage introduces it as “the place where martyrs lived, died, and were buried.”

History

[Formation of the Catholic village] Good News Shrines and Historic Sites and the Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia state that there is no exact record of when believers began living in Hanti, and estimate, as at Sinnamugol, that families of believers imprisoned in Daegu prison after the Eulhae Persecution in 1815 and the Jeonghae Persecution in 1827 came to live here to contact one another in secret. According to the encyclopedia, the family of Kim Hyeon-sang (Joachim), who had come down from Seoul in 1837, moved to Hanti via Sinnamugol to escape the Gihae Persecution in 1839, believers gathered, and a full Catholic village was formed, and the believers earned a living by firing pottery and charcoal and clearing slash-and-burn fields. They kept close contact with the Sinnamugol Catholic mission chapel in their life of faith, and Bishop Daveluy, who entered the country in 1845, and Father Choe Yang-eop, who entered in 1849, celebrated the Easter confession in Hanti while touring Gyeongsang-do.

[After the Gyeongsin Persecution and pastoral visits] The encyclopedia says believers scattered by the Gyeongsin Persecution in 1860 gathered again when persecution eased and the village became even larger, and that the ministry report for 1862 records, “On a very large mountainside in a Chilgok village there is a very remote village where about 40 received the sacraments.” According to the shrine’s official homepage, when Father Robert toured Gyeongsang-do for evangelization in 1882–1883 and administered the sacraments in Hanti, there were 39 believers, 20 confessions, 19 communions, 3 baptisms, and 1 marriages. After the Daegu Parish was established in 1885 and Father Robert settled in Sinnamugol, he still visited Hanti often, and Hanti believers went to Sinnamugol for Mass on major feasts.

[Byeongin Persecution and martyrdom (1868)] The encyclopedia writes that the Byeongin Persecution in 1866 continued for 3 years and the village of Hanti met its “last day,” naming as martyrs of the time Yi Seon-i (Elizabeth), wife of Bae Jeong-mo, Bae Do-ryeong, Seo Ik-sun, Seo Tae-sun, Jo Ga-ro and others, and explains that about 30 graves of unnamed martyrs who died around the Byeongin Persecution are scattered there. Good News and the shrine’s official homepage write that in 1868 runners who rushed into Hanti executed on the spot believers who would not apostatize and burned the village. The official homepage writes that in spring around 1868, Seoul runners and soldiers guarding Gasan Fortress rushed in, released those who apostatized, and killed on the spot those who kept the faith, including Catholic mission chapel president Jo Garollo with his wife Choe Barbara and his younger sibling Jo A-gi, and that there were about 40 martyrs at that time. Nearby believers who came on hearing the news buried most of them where they died because the bodies were too badly damaged to move, and of the 37 confirmed martyrs’ graves, only 4, including the family of Jo Garollo, are known by name (Good News).

[Rebuilding and decline of the mission chapel] According to Good News, after the persecution, Jo Yeong-hak (Thomas), son of Jo Garollo, and a few believers recovered the remains of the unnamed martyrs and led the rebuilding of the Catholic mission chapel. The rebuilt chapel passed its peak in the early 1900 with more than 80 believers and continued as a mission chapel until the early 1980s. The official homepage writes that the mission chapel declined as believers, who numbered about 80 in the early 1900, left this inconvenient place to live with the coming of religious freedom. It writes that jurisdiction passed to the Gasil church priest who visited Hanti after Gasil Parish was established in 1895, and, after the establishment of the Daegu Vicariate, to Bisan Parish from 1927 and to Chilgok Parish from 1957, when the Korean War had ended.

[Restoration of memory and creation of the shrine (1961–)] According to the encyclopedia, in 1961 Ma Baeng-nak (Clemens), evangelization president of Chilgok Parish, collected testimonies of people who had lived in Hanti and identified the martyrs’ graves, and in 1967 Daegu Archdiocese believers made a walking pilgrimage to the grave of Yi Seon-i and to Hanti under the direction of Father Park Byeong-won (Philip), Father Yi Mun-hui (Paul), and Professor Kim Dal-ho of Kyungpook National University. The official homepage writes that public pilgrimages organized by Daegu Archdiocese action groups began in the Martyrs’ Month of September 1967 and continue to this day. Full creation of the shrine began when the Archdiocese of Daegu established a shrine development plan in the early 1980s as part of the 200 anniversary project of the founding of the Catholic Church in Korea (encyclopedia). In May 1983 Dongmyeong Parish acquired the residence of Monsignor Yi Gi-su and opened it as the Hanti pilgrims’ house, in July of the same year Father Seo Sang-u (John) and President Ma Baeng-nak learned that Seo Tae-sun was buried in Hanti, and in September they identified the graves of Jo Garollo, Choe Barbara, and Jo A-gi. In April 1988 the museum of Hyosung Women’s University (now Daegu Catholic University) formed the Hanti shrine survey team, excavated pottery-kiln and charcoal-kiln sites, and surveyed the martyrs’ graves and the mission-chapel site, and in the same year the Archdiocese of Daegu, having identified 19 martyrs’ graves, carried out a grave excavation on May 24, excavated 6 of 19, and moved 3 into the shrine cemetery (encyclopedia).

[Facilities and pilgrimage road] Good News lists in order the retreat house in 1991, the shrine management office in 1995, the restoration of the old mission chapel in 1998, the Daegu major seminary spirituality center in 2000, the blessing of the pilgrim church in 2004, and the opening of the road to Hanti in 2016. The encyclopedia writes that the retreat house was built in October 1991, the spirituality center in 2000, and the pilgrimage house in December 2004. The official homepage writes that from 1995 to 2015, for 20 years, seminarians of the Daegu Ecclesiastical Province entered Hanti, and that the 30-day retreat of seminarians about to receive holy orders continues even now.

Related places and persons

• Sinnamugol: a Catholic village in Daegu with which Hanti believers kept close contact through the mission chapel and where they went for Mass on major feasts (Hanti Martyrs’ Shrine official homepage, Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia).
• Gasil church: the official homepage writes that after the parish was established in 1895, its priest visited Hanti.
• Jo Garollo (mission-chapel president) with his wife Choe Barbara and his younger sibling Jo A-gi: the official homepage records that they died as martyrs on the spot around 1868. His son Jo Yeong-hak (Thomas) recovered the remains and led the rebuilding of the mission chapel.
• Seo Tae-sun: a martyr whose grave location was identified in 1983 (Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia).

References and sources

1. Good News Shrines and Historic Sites, “Hanti Martyrs’ Shrine” (Archdiocese of Daegu). Formation of the Catholic village, executions in 1868, 37 graves, rebuilding of the mission chapel, chronology of facilities.
   https://app.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2255
2. Digital Chilgok Culture Encyclopedia, “Hanti Shrine.” Formation of the Catholic village in 1837–1839, report of 1862, martyrs, background of the 1961–1988 excavation survey, facilities.
   https://chilgok.grandculture.net/chilgok/toc/GC02301437
3. Hanti Martyrs’ Shrine official homepage, shrine introduction (history). Pastoral visits in 1882–1885, circumstances of martyrdom in 1868, decline of the mission chapel and changes of jurisdiction, pilgrimages and creation of the shrine after 1967.
   https://www.hanti.or.kr/page/shrine.html?srl=intro&sub=24