About this place
Nambangje Shrine is a Catholic pilgrimage site in Sinchang-myeon, Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, within the Diocese of Daejeon. It preserves the memory of a Catholic village from the era of persecution and the birthplace of Saint Joseph Jo Yun-ho. The Diocese of Daejeon's official shrine guide presents the site in connection with the faith journey of Saint Joseph Jo Yun-ho and his father, Saint Peter Jo Hwa-seo, and identifies it as a shrine currently cared for by Onyang Sinjeong-dong Parish.
The significance of Nambangje lies not in being the final place where the martyrs were executed, but in being a place where a Catholic family lived under persecution and handed on the faith. Its distinctive character is that pilgrims can encounter the lives of Peter Jo Hwa-seo and Joseph Jo Yun-ho, a father and son both venerated as saints, in the setting of family and community. The shrine therefore invites reflection not only on martyrdom itself but also on the everyday faith of a Catholic village and the transmission of faith within a household before the final persecution.
History & origins
Nambangje was one of the Catholic villages where believers lived together during periods of persecution. According to the Diocese of Daejeon, Joseph Jo Yun-ho's family had accepted the Catholic faith generations earlier. After members of the family line suffered martyrdom, the household moved through several areas of Chungcheong Province before settling in Nambangje. Such movement reflects the circumstances in which Catholics often had to live in hiding or form close communities in order to preserve their faith.
Joseph Jo Yun-ho was born in Nambangje in 1848. His father, Peter Jo Hwa-seo, continued an active Catholic life and from around 1850 also assisted the missionary work of Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop. Nambangje was therefore both a family home and a living setting in which the ministry of a priest was connected with a lay Catholic community.
The Jo family moved to the Jeonju area in 1865 and was arrested during the Byeongin Persecution the following year. Peter Jo Hwa-seo was martyred on December 13, 1866, and his son Joseph Jo Yun-ho on December 23 of the same year. Their deaths in fidelity to the faith show how the faith handed on within the household at Nambangje eventually became a witness of martyrdom.
On May 6, 1984, the two were canonized in Seoul's Yeouido by Pope Saint John Paul II together with other Korean martyrs. Nambangje was not the place of their martyrdom, but as the Catholic village where the younger saint was born and where their faith life developed, it continues as a pilgrimage site that helps place their martyrdom within the wider story of their lives.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Nambang Jesungji: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 0
- 1 above-ground floors · 0 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 1991
- Total floor area: 76㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
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- Official source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
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- 한국천주교주교회의 온라인 주소록
Diocese
Daejeon Diocese (Diocese of Daejeon)
Official website: http://www.djcatholic.or.kr
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