규암 성당

History & origins

The Catholic community in Gyuam began in 1925 as Gyuam Mission Station under Geumsari Parish. It had about twenty faithful at the time. Although there were older mission stations within Geumsari Parish, Gyuam was chosen as a base for a future parish because it was located at a transportation center. On September 21, 1955, Gyuam was separated from Geumsari Parish and established as an independent parish.

The intention of Father Joseph Molimard of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, who was killed during the Korean War, also became part of the parish's foundation. According to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea's committee for beatification and canonization, he asked in his will that his estate be used to build a church in Buyeo or Gyuam, and Gyuam Parish was established in accordance with that wish. The parish later opened Saint Joseph Clinic, named after his baptismal patron, while his estate and donations from Catholics in Vauvert, France, also contributed to the church.

After the parish was established, it took part in efforts to respond to the hardships of the postwar period. Catholic relief work continued from the late 1950s, and Saint Joseph Hospital opened in 1957. The parish initially used a purchased and renovated building that had served as a Japanese elementary school during the colonial period, but a new church was constructed in 1972. During this development, Cheongyang Parish and Buyeo Parish were each separated from Gyuam and became independent, making Gyuam one of the bases from which parish structures expanded across the Buyeo and Cheongyang areas.