Deoksan Martyrs' Shrine

History & origins

The historical foundation of Deoksan Martyrs' Shrine lies in the persecution of Catholics at the Deoksan government office and prison in the late Joseon period. Its principal figure, Peter Jeong San-pil, was a native of Deoksan. After being baptized by Fr. James Zhou Wenmo, who entered Korea in 1794, Jeong served as a lay leader among Catholics in the Naepo region. He refused to abandon the faith during persecution, was arrested and interrogated in Deoksan, and was martyred there in 1799. He was later honored by the Catholic Church in Korea as one of the 124 beatified martyrs.

The Deoksan government office remained a place of Catholic witness during later persecutions as well. St. Thomas Son Ja-seon was interrogated there during the Byeongin Persecution before being transferred through Haemi and Gongju, where he was eventually martyred, and other Catholics passed through Deoksan on the way to places of punishment or execution. The former government-office and prison area, near the present Deoksan Elementary School, therefore preserves not only the memory of one martyr but also an administrative route through which the persecution of Catholics in Naepo was carried out.

The modern shrine was developed only recently. Based on church-historical research and investigation of the site, the Diocese of Daejeon acquired land associated with the old martyr site in 2022 and began preparing a chapel and facilities for pilgrims in 2023. A priest was assigned specifically to the new shrine in January 2024, and the first Mass at the site was celebrated on 2 February. On 8 May 2024, Bishop Augustine Kim Jong-soo formally approved Deoksan Martyrs' Shrine as a diocesan pilgrimage site.

Deoksan Martyrs' Shrine thus brings together historical research into an actual place of persecution with the diocese's twenty-first-century work of honoring the martyrs. In a role distinct from the nearby Deoksan Parish, it connects the confessions of faith made at the old government office and the routes traveled by persecuted Catholics with present-day pilgrimage and prayer.