금사리 성당

History & origins

Before Geumsari Parish was established, several Catholic mission stations had already formed in the Buyeo area. After local Catholics and priests requested the establishment of a parish, Bishop Gustave Mutel sent Father Julien Gombert to the area in 1900, and Soyang-ri was chosen as the center. On April 27, 1901, the new parish was separated from Gongju Parish. In its early years, it was also known as Hongsan Church or Soyang-ri Church.

Father Gombert secured land and pursued construction of a church, completing the building now known as the old church in 1906. A rectory and a sarangchae, or traditional reception building, were completed in 1913, and Bishop Mutel consecrated the church on September 2 of that year. The old church has a two-aisled plan divided by a central row of columns and combines Korean and Western structural features, preserving an architectural expression from the period when Catholic communities were becoming firmly established in the region.

During the Korean War, the parish suffered the arrest and death of its pastor, Father Joseph Molimard, who was killed in Daejeon in 1950. As the number of parishioners later increased, a new church was completed beside the old one in 1968. The principal liturgical space moved to the new building, while the earlier church remained as a witness to the parish's history.

The old church was designated a Chungcheongnam-do Monument in 1998 and underwent restoration and preservation work in the 2000s. From the faith of the mission-station era through the establishment of the parish, church construction, the wounds of war, the building of a new church, and the preservation of historic fabric, Geumsari's history shows how a local Catholic community maintained its place of faith across generations.