Jinmokjeong

History & origins

The earliest formation of a Catholic community around Jinmokjeong cannot be dated with certainty. An Archdiocese of Daegu publication explicitly says it “presumes” that Catholics from nearby Tapgol and Sangseonpil fled here after the Sinyu Persecution of 1801 and settled in the area. This should therefore be understood not as a confirmed founding chronology but as a cautious archdiocesan inference concerning the formation of a Catholic village during the era of persecution.

During the Byeongin Persecution, the families of the three martyrs, who had been living at Salti in Ulsan, fled to Beomgul Cave in Sotae-dong, Sannae-myeon, but were arrested. According to archdiocesan materials, they endured questioning and torture for about three months and were executed by military beheading at Jangdae in Ulsan on September 14, 1868.

Their remains were initially buried near Jangdae in Ulsan, but with the help of Park Jo-ye, the wife of Heo In-baek, and Catholics at Jinmokjeong, they were reinterred together on Domaesan behind the Catholic village. This process helped transform Jinmokjeong from a place of refuge into a place of faith where the martyrs’ remains and memory were preserved.

On August 16, 2014, during the visit of Pope Francis to Korea, the three martyrs were beatified. Jinmokjeong’s identity as an archdiocesan martyr shrine honoring them consequently became still clearer, and in 2024 the archdiocese held a walking pilgrimage and a Mass in honor of the martyrs there. Refuge during persecution, martyrdom, the reburial of the remains, beatification, and pilgrimage together form the history of the shrine over time.