Haemi Martyrs International Shrine

History & origins

Haemi became a major place of martyrdom in part because Haemi Fortress and its military command served important administrative and defensive functions on Korea’s western coast during the Joseon period. Catholics arrested across northwestern Chungcheong were taken to Haemi, interrogated, and punished; many died in the prison within the fortress or at execution grounds outside it. The Diocese of Daejeon records 132 martyrs whose names are known, while many other victims were never identified in surviving records.

The memory of the martyrdom site was gradually given a physical form in the modern period. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, some remains of the martyrs were excavated in 1935 on the basis of eyewitness testimony and were transferred to the present sanctuary in 1995. In 2003 the site was developed as a pilgrimage sanctuary with a church, memorial structures, and a burial area for unnamed martyrs, establishing a place where the memory of the Haemi martyrs could be preserved continuously.

The year 2014 marked an important turning point. Among the martyrs of Haemi, Martin In Eon-min, Francis Yi Bo-hyeon, and Pius Kim Jin-hu were beatified by Pope Francis in August that year, and the Pope visited Haemi during the same month. The closing Mass of Asian Youth Day was celebrated at Haemi Fortress, giving the memory of Haemi’s martyrs a wider place in the life of the Church in Asia.

This development led to international recognition in 2021. According to the Holy See’s official Jubilee materials, the then Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization recognized Haemi in March 2021 as an international place of pilgrimage because of its commemorative significance. The recognition shows how the memory of the unnamed martyrs, long preserved locally, came to be shared beyond the Church in Korea as part of the pilgrimage memory of the universal Church.