Doanggol Shrine

Overview

Doanggol Shrine is a shrine of the Catholic Diocese of Daejeon located in the Wolmyeongsan valley in Geumji-ri, Naesan-myeon, Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, and is a former Catholic village that served as a base for the Lower Naepo mission during the persecution period. It is where Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop wrote his first letter after returning to Korea on October 1, 1850, and Good News introduces it as the former Catholic village where Father Choe Yang-eop wrote his first pastoral report.

History

[Formation of the Catholic village] The Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia explains that the southwestern Chungcheong-do area is more mountainous than the Naepo area in the northwest and was therefore advantageous as a hiding place for Catholic communities during the persecution period, and that the Paris Foreign Missions Society sent a separate missionary, distinct from the Naepo area, to care for the Catholic communities in the mountain valleys of ‘Lower Naepo.’ The Catholic Newspaper and Hongju Ilbo record that the Catholic village at Doanggol was formed through the evangelizing activity of Yi Jon-chang, Apostle of Naepo (Ludovico Gonzaga, 1759~1801). The Catholic Newspaper says that after Yi Jon-chang was arrested and then released, he took refuge in Hongsan in Chungcheong-do and evangelized, so the Hongsan area became a ground of faith, and Doanggol is the place that preserves that history.

[Origin of the name] The Catholic Newspaper reports it is handed down that the name Doanggol originated from the peach blossoms blooming along the valley water in spring, so the mountain village was called ‘Dowon-gok (桃園谷 or 桃花谷)’ and later came to be called ‘Dowanggol’ or ‘Doanggol.’ Hongju Ilbo also reports it is handed down that the name derives from ‘Dowon-gok’ because there were many wild peach trees around the valley. The Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia gives as alternate names Doanggol Catholic mission chapel and Dowanggol.

[Father Choe Yang-eop and the first letter] The Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia explains that Doanggol Shrine was re-recognized through Choe Yang-eop, fellow student in Macao with Father Andrew Kim Dae-geon and the second Korean priest. After being ordained in 1849 and entering Korea, the place of dispatch of the first letter he wrote in Latin and sent to Paris was Doanggol on October 1, 1850. According to the Catholic Newspaper, after returning to Korea in late December 1849, Choe administered the sacraments for six months until June of the following year while traveling through 5 provinces of Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang, Gyeonggi and Gangwon, rested from his journey at Doanggol during the month of July, and wrote there in October the long letter to his teacher Father Legrez. Hongju Ilbo records that after meeting Bishop Ferréol, then seriously ill, and Father Daveluy, he immediately began visiting Catholic mission chapels starting from Jeolla-do.

[The mountain Catholic village in the letter] In the letter quoted by the Catholic Newspaper, Choe wrote that the faithful lived almost all apart from non-believers in rugged mountains that non-believers could not cultivate, that most were well versed in doctrine and zealously kept the regulations, and that they lived by growing tobacco and millet. The same article reports that the letter also contains that the villagers discussed ways to seize and kill Choe’s party, poured out insults, curses and threats all day, and that he fled before dawn from the village where he was staying.

[Byeongin Persecution and recovery of remains] Hongju Ilbo and the Catholic Newspaper record that in the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, five people living at Doanggol — John Oh, Kim Sa-beom, Luke Kim, Paul Kim and Simon Oh — were arrested and martyred at Gongju. Hongju Ilbo records that in the same year John Kim Sun-jang, who lived at Doanggol, recovered the remains of 4 persons including Saint Daveluy martyred at Galmaemot together with Catholics from Seojitgol and buried them at Seojitgol, and reports that Catholics from Doanggol and from Sapti-gol beyond the mountain were arrested during the Byeongin Persecution and all martyred. The Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia also records that circumstances showing the active involvement of Doanggol Catholics in recovering the martyrs’ remains have been revealed.

[Changes of the Catholic mission chapel and development as a shrine] The Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia explains that Doanggol is identified in the “Church Growth Statistical Table” as a major Catholic mission chapel of Geumsari Church until 1904, does not appear in statistics after the 1910s, but reports that Catholics lived there until the 1970s. Hongju Ilbo records that in 1890 Catholics gathered again and formed a Catholic mission chapel, but it was closed in 1970. The dating in the two sources differs. The Diocese of Daejeon dedicated the building in September 2011 officiated by Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik (the Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia calls it the dedication ceremony of the newly built ‘House of Friendship,’ Hongju Ilbo calls it the blessing ceremony of the ‘House of Prayer’), and on December 22 of the same year the unveiling ceremony of the ‘Monument Praying for the Canonization of the Virtuous Choe Yang-eop’ was held, officiated by former diocesan Bishop Kyung Gab-ryong.

Architecture and Space

The Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia records that Doanggol Shrine is at Geumji-ro 302 (Geumji-ri 249), in the Wolmyeongsan valley south of Geumji-ri. The Catholic Newspaper explains that Doanggol lies at the far end of a valley at 250 m above sea level where mountain paths meet under Wolmyeongsan where Boryeong, Buyeo and Seocheon meet. The Monument Praying for the Canonization of the Virtuous Choe Yang-eop erected on December 22, 2011 is about 7.5 m high (including the head of the stele), made entirely of unworked natural stone for body, head and base, and engraved in the handwriting of Father Simon Baek Seong-su, then head of Haemi Shrine, with ‘鐸德 崔良業 諡聖祈願碑’ (Catholic Newspaper). Hongju Ilbo records that beside the monument there is an altar commemorating Father Choe Yang-eop’s pastoral ministry.

Related Places and Figures

• Sapti Shrine: faces Doanggol Shrine across the summit of Wolmyeongsan, with an approximately 3 km walking pilgrimage path connecting the two (Catholic Newspaper, Hongju Ilbo).
• Seojitgol Shrine: the place where John Kim Sun-jang, a Doanggol Catholic, recovered and buried the remains of the saints of Galmaemot (Hongju Ilbo).
• Yi Jon-chang (Ludovico Gonzaga): the figure involved through evangelization in the formation of the Doanggol Catholic village (Catholic Newspaper, Hongju Ilbo).
• Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop: the second Korean priest who wrote his first letter after returning to Korea at Doanggol in 1850 (Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Catholic Good News Shrines and Historic Sites, “Doanggol Shrine” (Diocese of Daejeon). Introduction as the former Catholic village where Father Choe Yang-eop wrote his first pastoral report, and location.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=4396
2. Digital Buyeo Culture Encyclopedia, “Doanggol Shrine.” Lower Naepo mission base, Choe Yang-eop’s first letter, Catholic mission chapel in the Church Growth Statistical Table, dedication in 2011.
   https://buyeo.grandculture.net/buyeo/toc/GC09001168
3. Hongju Ilbo, “Where Father Choe Yang-eop wrote his first pastoral report, Buyeo ‘Doanggol and Sapti Shrines’” (2024-10-18). Origin of the name, Byeongin Persecution martyrs, closure of the Catholic mission chapel, monument.
   http://www.hjn24.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=124682
4. Catholic Newspaper, “[Shepherd Yang-eop on the road, sending the letter again] (8) Doanggol Shrine, where he wrote his first letter after returning to Korea.” Yi Jon-chang and the Catholic village, content of Choe Yang-eop’s letter, monument praying for canonization.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/202202220100319