Gongseri Catholic Church

Overview

Gongseri Church is a church in Gongseri, Inju-myeon, Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, belonging to the Diocese of Daejeon. It began when Ganyangol Parish, founded in Ganyangol, Yesan in 1890, moved to Gongseri in 1895, and the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia describes it as one of the early parishes in the Chungcheong-do region. The Gothic-style church completed in 1922 and the old rectory are designated as Chungcheongnam-do monuments.

History

〔Origin of Gongseri〕 The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia explains that the name ‘Gongseri’ derives from the fact that there was a Gongsechang, a storehouse for keeping the taxes collected from southwestern Chungcheong-do in the Joseon period. The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that Gongseri was a cape where land jutted out convexly into the sea and an important junction for water transport of tax grain, that in the past seawater reached up to below the high hill where the church stands, and that in the reign of King Sejong of Joseon, Gongsegotchang was installed to store tribute grain. It states that in the reign of King Jungjong, a 80-bay tax granary was built and called ‘Gongjinchang,’ and in the reign of King Injo, a stone granary wall was built to protect the granary. It adds that from the 17 century, with the enforcement of the Daedong Law, the function of the tax granary weakened and it was abolished under King Gojong in the 19 century, and that part of the fortress wall and the stele of the maritime transport magistrate and commemorative steles still remain today.

〔Transfer from Ganyangol Parish to Gongseri〕 According to the Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia, after gaining freedom of mission through the 1886 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Protection with France, the Catholic Joseon Diocese founded a church in 1890 in Yangchon, Godeok, Yesan, the center of Naepo, and in Ganyangol, where a Catholic village was located, and dispatched Father L. Curlier and Father P. Pasquier respectively. The two churches were called ‘Yangchon Parish’ and ‘Ganyangol Parish.’ Because of the 1894 First Sino-Japanese War and the Donghak Peasant Revolution, the two priests took refuge in Seoul, and when Father Pasquier had to leave for convalescence in Hong Kong due to illness, the Ganyangol Church was moved to Gongseri, Asan in 1895 (the Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that it was moved on May 5, 1895 and Gongseri Church was founded). The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia writes that it was founded in separation from Yangchon Parish, the predecessor of the former Hapdeok Parish, in June 1895 and that its patron is St. Benedict. According to this source, at that time the Asan-gun area near Gongseri had Catholic mission chapels in Gongseri, Galsan-ri, Tangjeong-myeon, Dongcheon-ri, Eumbong-myeon, Sucheol-ri, Baebang-myeon, and Gangjang-ri, Songak-myeon, with a total of about 300 believers, and these mission chapels originally belonged to Ganyangol Parish but were placed under the jurisdiction of Yangchon Parish when Ganyangol Parish was closed in 1894 due to the Donghak Peasant Movement.

〔Father Devise’s Tenure〕 Father Emile Pierre Devise (Emile Pierre Devise, Korean name Seongillon, 1871~1933), appointed as the first pastor, was transferred after 1 years in office as chaplain to the diocesan office at Myeongdong Church, and his successor Father Guinand was also transferred after 1 years to found Gongju Parish, so Father Devise returned in 1897 as the 3 pastor (Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that Father Devise served a total of 35 years until 1930, and the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia writes that he served 34 years from June 1897 to 1930. At first, the jurisdiction of Gongseri Parish was very extensive, covering the Asan-gun, Cheonan-gun and Gongju-gun areas in Chungcheongnam-do and the Jincheon-gun area in Chungcheongbuk-do, but the following year Gongju-gun was separated with the establishment of Gongju Parish, and in 1901, with Anseong Parish again separated and founded, it came to have jurisdiction only over the Asan-gun area (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that Gongju Church was separated in 1897 and Anseong Church in 1900.

〔Number of Believers and Land Management〕 According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Father Devise immediately after taking office purchased the area where the Gongsechang had stood, demolished a 80-bay warehouse, and built a church and a rectory on the site, and the total number of believers at the time was about 1 thousand. Due to division of districts, the number of believers fell to about 400 around 1902, but through evangelization activities it grew to about 700 in the 1920s. The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that from 1897, Father Devise owned rice paddies, fields and salt fields around District 1 in Gongseri, in Mildu-ri, and in Changyong-ri, Yeongin-myeon, in order to build a large church and to raise funds to support convents and orphanages in Seoul and Incheon. This land was tenanted to believers and conscientious non-believers, and while most landlords during the Japanese colonial period collected rents of 5 tenths or more, the church’s tenant land charged rents of 4 tenths or less. It was also used for the establishment of Josong School, the creation of a park cemetery, relief for the extremely poor, and the operation of an orphanage, and after liberation, through the land reform that began in April 1950, the paddies and fields owned by the church were distributed for compensation to the tenant farmers.

〔Seongillon Ointment〕 The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that Father Devise purchased ingredients by a method he had learned in France and manufactured an ointment in 1906 to treat believers suffering from skin boils, and that this ointment was called ‘Seongillon Ointment’ after the priest’s Korean-style name. A poor believer from Incheon named Lee Myeong-rae learned the manufacturing method and made ‘Lee Myeong-rae Ointment,’ settled on the hill of Yakhyeon Church in Jungnim-dong, Seoul, and after liberation founded Myeongrae Pharmaceutical.

〔Church Construction〕 According to the Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia, the first thing Father Devise did was to purchase the site of the Gongjinchang and build a hanok-style church in August 1899. This source explains that after the abolition of the tax granary the site had lain in ruins with only Chimhaedang, a shrine where people prayed for the safety of the sea routes, remaining on the north side, and writes that the T-shaped hanok church had a square bell tower with tiles rising above the tiled roof, with a tile-roofed rectory and sarangchae beside the church, forming an overall U-shaped layout. Father Devise, who was an architect and craftsman, directly directed and supervised 20 or so Chinese bricklayers and technicians when the number of believers grew greatly in the 1920s, and completed a Gothic-style church and rectory of his own design in September 1922 (the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia writes that he directed and supervised Chinese building technicians to finish construction of a Western-style T-shaped church building in 1921 and held the blessing ceremony, differing in year). This church was the first Western-style church built in the Diocese of Daejeon, and became the architectural model for Hapdeok Church (1929), Yesan Church (1934), Gongju Jungdong Church (1936) and others built later.

〔Expansion and Restoration〕 According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the hall building was erected in 1956 during the tenure of the 9 pastor Father Lee In-ha (Benedict), and the convent building was erected in 1970 during the tenure of the 13 pastor Father Kim Dong-uk (Matthias). The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that in 1970, the pillars inside the church were removed and the north side was remodeled to widen the sanctuary space to left and right, expanding it into a ‘St. Anthony cross shape,’ and that in 1995, as part of the project to commemorate the 100 anniversary of the parish’s foundation and to develop the shrine, restoration to the original form was decided and in July the pillars inside the church were first restored. With support from Asan City, restoration of the church and the old rectory to their original form began in 2000 and was completed in 2001, and the new rectory, convent, Sacred Heart Retreat House, Eucharistic Adoration Chapel and others were newly built and blessed in October 2002. In 2003, 14 Stations of the Cross were installed along the footpath circling the church.

〔Designation as Cultural Heritage and the Shrine Museum〕 According to the Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia, on July 28, 1998 the church and the old rectory were designated as No. 144 Monument of Chungcheongnam-do, and on November 19, 2021, by a notice of the Cultural Heritage Administration, the cultural heritage designation numbers were abolished and they were redesignated as a Chungcheongnam-do monument. In August 2007, a memorial tower for the martyrs was erected on the site where the graves of the 3 martyr brothers Park Uiseo, Park Wonseo and Park Ikseo had been, enshrining the remains and tombstones of 28 martyrs from the Gongseri area. In September 2008, the old rectory was renovated and the Gongseri Shrine Museum was opened on themes such as the origin of the church and construction of the church building, Father Devise, persecutions and martyrs, and the sufferings during the 6 and 25 Wars.

〔Church Growth and Activities〕 The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia writes that after liberation the number of believers was about 1,300, about 1,900 in the 1950s, and about 2,200 in the 1960s, but because it was a quiet rural area it stopped growing from the late 1970s and declined in the 1980s. The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that the number of believers of Gongseri Church alone grew from 183 in 1896 to about 400 in the 1920s, about 900 in the 1940s, and about 2,000 in the 1960~1970s, then became about 1,700 in 1995 and 1,400 or fewer in the 2000s. According to this source, in 2005 the Korea Tourism Organization selected this church as a ‘church representing the country,’ and about 70 films, dramas and music videos, including the film ‘Taegeukgi,’ were filmed there. By 2019, it had gone through 23 pastors, produced about 10 priests and about 10 religious, and separated Gongju Church, Anseong Church, Onyang Church and others.

〔Successive Pastors〕 The successive pastors as recorded by the Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia are the 1 Devise (1895~1896), the 2 Guinand (1896~1897), the 3 Devise (1897~1931), the 4 Collin (1931~1937), the 5 Kim Seong-hak (1937~1938), the 6 Jeong Gyu-rang (1938~1949), the 7 Bertrand (1949~1950), the 8 Bulto (1950, kidnapped by North Korean soldiers and martyred), interim pastor Shin Jong-o (1951~1953, pastor of Onyang Church), the 9 Lee In-ha (1953~1958), the 10 Serajang (1958~1961), the 11 Park No-yeol (1961~1965), the 12 Piler (1965~1968), the 13 Kim Dong-uk (1968~1974), the 14 Yun Seok-bin (1974~1980), the 15 Yeo Chung-gu (1980~1985), the 16 Byeon Gap-cheol (1985~1990), the 17 Kim In-su (1990~1992), the 18 Yu Jae-sik (1992~1998), the 19 Kang Hyeon-sik (1998~2003), the 20 O Nam-han (2003~2010), the 21 Kim Chan-yong (2010~2014), the 22 Kim Su-gyeom (2014~2017), and the 23 Park Ji-mok (2017~).

Architecture and Space

The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that the church stands on the highest hill in the village and is a Gothic-style building with an impressive tall spire, and that in Korea it was built in a simplified pseudo-Gothic form using bricks, earning the appraisal of being a ‘Korean reinterpretation of Gothic style.’ At the top of the front exterior of the church is a bell tower soaring pointedly to a height of 4 stories, decorated with patterns reminiscent of white doves and angels. On the north wall inside, the altar used in 1965 before the 2 Vatican Council is attached, with an altar facing the faithful in front of it. The entrance is on the south, and the doorways and all the windows are semicircular arches. The central ceiling is a wide arch, the ceilings of the side aisles on both sides are narrow flat ceilings exposing wooden boards as they are, forming a rectangular 3-aisle structure divided from the center by rows of columns.

The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia’s “Historic and Beautiful Gongseri Church” writes that at the entrance to the church, a hackberry tree nearly 400 years old greets pilgrims and is also called the ‘gatekeeper’ tree. It is said that when starting construction, Father Devise offered a three-day prayer seeking the intercession of St. Benedict.

Related Places and Figures

• Ganyangol Parish and Yangchon Parish: parishes founded in Naepo in 1890, with Ganyangol Parish moving to Gongseri in 1895 to become Gongseri Church (Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Gongju Church, Anseong Church and Onyang Church: churches separated from Gongseri Church. The Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia writes that Gongju Church was separated in 1897, Anseong Church in 1900, and Onyang Church in 1948, and that afterwards the remaining churches such as Dogo, Mosan and Yonghwa-dong in Onyang were separated from Onyang Church.
• Dunpo Church: the Dunpo mission chapel, which belonged to Gongseri Church, was transferred to Seonghwan Church in 1965 and then separated as Dunpo Church in 1976 (Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia).
• Gongseri Shrine Museum: a museum opened in September 2008 by renovating the old rectory (Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Research Institute of Korean Church History, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia “Gongseri Parish” (Vol. 1). Founded in 1895, patron St. Benedict, foundation and transformation, Father Devise’s tenure and blessing of the church building in 1921, number of believers, construction of the hall and convent.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/403
2. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia “Asan Gongseri Church”. Transfer of Ganyangol Church, hanok church in 1899 and Gothic church in 1922, expansion in 1970, designation as Chungcheongnam-do monument, restoration, Seongillon Ointment, current status and successive pastors.
   https://www.grandculture.net/asan/toc/GC07101005
3. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Asan Culture Encyclopedia “Historic and Beautiful Gongseri Church”. Origin of Gongseri as a tax granary, process of church foundation, completion of the new church and changes, separated churches.
   https://www.grandculture.net/asan/toc/GC07101400