Hwangsaebawi Martyrs' Shrine

Overview

Hwangsaebawi Martyrs' Shrine is a martyrs' shrine of the Diocese of Daejeon in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do. In Gongju, where the Chungcheong provincial office was located in the late Joseon period, it was the execution ground where Catholics sentenced as criminals of heterodoxy were beheaded, and the martyrs whose names are known alone number 248 (the shrine register lists 337 names).

History

It is presumed that Catholicism spread to the Gongju area before the Sinhae Persecution (1791), and it is recorded that in 1791 Kim Myeong-ju and the father and son Hong Cheol and In-cheol learned the doctrine from Ludovico Yi Jon-chang and joined the Church. As Gongju was the seat of the governor administering Chungcheong-do and the Gongju provincial office, believers arrested in various parts of Chungcheong-do were transferred there, and those who refused to apostatize were executed at Hwangsaebawi. In the Sinyu Persecution in 1801, Ludovico Yi Jon-chang, the Apostle of Naepo, and in the Byeongin Persecution in 1866, Saint Thomas Son Ja-seon, were martyred.

The place name is said to derive from the leaning pines on the rock and the herons that lived there, and it was also called Hangswaebawi and Hwangswaebawi because it resembled the hangswae, the blade placed around a criminal's neck, or because criminals wearing the blade were executed there. As the name Hwangsaebawi was expressly used in the History of the Catholic Church in Gongju published in 1955, the name is now uniformly called Hwangsaebawi.

The creation of the shrine began in 1978 when Ji Jae-hui, a parishioner of the Gongju parish, heard the oral tradition, confirmed the location with elderly residents of the area, and reported it to Bishop Peter Hwang Min-seong, the 2th Bishop of Daejeon. In December 1980, Father Paul Kim Dong-eok, pastor of the Gongju parish, purchased 2,410 pyeong of hillside land, and on March 11, 1984, the Committee for the Development of the Holy Ground was formed. On November 7, 1985, there was the blessing of the Tomb Chapel and the Martyrs' Tower, in November 2002 the blessing of the church (blessing of the Great Chapel), and on January 23, 2008, it was separated from the Gyodong parish to become an independent shrine, with Father Pius Choe Sang-sun appointed as the first full-time priest.

On December 22, 2008, it was designated as Monument No. 178 of Chungcheongnam-do. This was followed by the dedication of the roll of 337 martyrs on September 24, 2011, the blessing of the rebuilt Tomb Chapel and the creation of the Martyrs' Square and outdoor church on October 20, 2012, the Mass for the completion of the Resurrection Chapel on November 1, 2016, and the opening of the Martyrs' Memorial Hall on September 14, 2017. In 2015, the 2th full-time priest, Father Han Tae-ho, held an academic conference and published a collection of research materials.

Jurisdiction and Affiliation

It belongs to the Diocese of Daejeon.

Architecture and Grounds

The Martyrs' Tower is a 13.8-meter-high tower erected by the Gyodong parish in Gongju to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the introduction of Catholicism to Korea, and there is a Tomb Chapel in the form of a stone tomb inscribed with the name plates of 248 martyrs. In the Martyrs' Square in front of the Tomb Chapel stand 12 stones of light, which serve as tombstones for the unknown martyrs and symbolize the 12 Apostles. Through the improvement work in 2012, the list of 337 persons known to have died in Gongju, including the 248 names in the former chapel, was engraved underground.

References and Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Martyrdom Site of Hwangsaebawi Catholicism in Gongju, Gongju. Progress of shrine development from 1978 to 2015, separation in 2008 and designation as a Chungnam monument.
   https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0069931
2. Digital Gongju Culture Encyclopedia, Martyrdom Site of Hwangsaebawi Catholicism in Gongju, Gongju. Land purchase in 1980, promotion committee in 1984, Martyrs' Tower and chapel in 1985, Monument No. 178 in 2008.
   https://gongju.grandculture.net/gongju/toc/GC01701691
3. Hwangsaebawi Martyrs' Shrine, History of the Shrine. Chronology from 1784 to 2017.
   http://www.hwangsae.or.kr/history
4. GoodNews Catholic Information, Hwangsaebawi Martyrs' Shrine of the Diocese of Daejeon. Origin of the place name, Martyrs' Tower, Tomb Chapel and 12 stones of light, 248 martyrs.
   https://maria.catholic.or.kr/sa_ho/list/view.asp?ctxtOrgNum=2301&menugubun=holyplace