Sanmakgol Shrine / Small Jae Shrine

Overview

Sanmakgol–Jageunjae Shrine is a martyrdom historic site of the Catholic Diocese of Daejeon located in the Cheonbangsan area of Seocheon-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. It encompasses both Sanmakgol, a Catholic village where the faithful ancestors of the Seocheon area lived in hiding during the era of persecution, and the Jageunjae row-grave site on the pass ridge connecting the Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel site and the Jageunjae Catholic mission chapel site. GoodNews introduces this place as the home of the faithful ancestors of the Seocheon area and as a center of mission in lower Naepo.

History

Sanmakgol (present-day Geumdeok-ri, Pangyo-myeon, Seocheon-gun, Chungcheongnam-do) is where the faithful ancestors, fleeing persecution after the Gihae Persecution of 1839, hid in a remote mountain area with no inhabitants and formed a faith community. According to the source collection “Study on the Catholic Church History of the Seocheon Area during the Persecution Era” by Dr. Seo Jong-tae of the Honam Church History Research Institute, this place was the pastoral center of Bishop Daveluy and Father Feron. Father Feron wrote a total of 6 letters at Sanmakgol, on September 24, 1858 and the 25th, September 27, 1859, and others. Until now this Sanmakgol had been understood as the Sanmakgol in Sinheung 1-ri, Modong-myeon, Sangju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, but since Hwang Gi-won and Hwang Cheon-il, who were Father Feron’s host and catechist, lived in Sanmak-dong, Seocheon, it is certain that the Seocheon Sanmakgol was the pastoral center.

Saint Hwang Seok-du Luka and his family moved from Yeonpung, Chungcheongbuk-do, and stayed here for more than 10 years before the Byeongin Persecution of 1866. The encyclopedia of local culture explains that this Sanmakgol and the Jageunjae Catholic mission chapel produced many martyrs and served as bases where missionaries worked in secret.

Jageunjae was the passage connecting the Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel in Suam-ri, Munsan-myeon, to the east and the Jageunjae Catholic mission chapel in Geumdeok-ri, Pangyo-myeon, to the west. During the late Joseon persecutions, it was the pass ridge crossed by the faithful of the Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel and the Jageunjae faithful, and it is the site where the row graves of faithful ancestors who lived and died without names lay. It is said that there were about 30 small graves here. During the paving of the 11.5km Cheonbangsan forest road from Sinnong-ri, Munsan-myeon, to Chohyeon-ri, Sicho-myeon, from 1992 to 1994, the graves were exhumed, and crosses, rosaries and other sacred objects were excavated with the bones at the construction site, but as no relatives could be found they were reburied and their location can no longer be found.

After Father Jeong Seong-yong was appointed as parish priest of Seocheon Parish in the Diocese of Daejeon, the foundations of the faithful ancestors of the Seocheon area were brought to light one by one. On November 13, 2010, Seocheon Parish celebrated the “Memorial Mass at the Sanmakgol Jageunjae Row-Grave Site” on the Cheonbangsan pass ridge, presided over by Diocesan Bishop Yu Heung-sik Lazaro. On that occasion, the blessing was also given for the Marian garden erected at the Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel site in Suam-ri and for the Stations of the Cross with 14 stations erected along the mountain path climbing from the mission chapel site to Jageunjae. Memorial monuments were erected at the Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel and Jageunjae Catholic mission chapel sites and at the Jageunjae row-grave site. In 2010, Father Jeong Seong-yong of Seocheon Parish prepared a shelter for visitors and erected the “Sanmak-dong” marker stone.

In 2017, Father Kim Jong-min secured a site of 2,835㎡ and expanded pilgrim facilities including the Stations of the Cross. On October 2018, Mass was celebrated to commemorate the refurbishment of the Sanmakgol and Jageunjae martyrdom historic sites, and the old road linking the two historic sites was restored as a pilgrimage route. In its regular personnel appointments on January 9, 2023, the Diocese of Daejeon assigned Father Jang In-guk as the priest in charge of the Sanmakgol Jageunjae Row-Grave Shrine.

Architecture and Space

According to the encyclopedia of local culture, as of 2024, Sanmakgol Shrine has the Stations of the Cross and several places of prayer, and is equipped with a tent-shaped temporary church and an office. Sanmakgol Shrine corresponds to the area of 81-beon-gil, Geumdeok-ri, Pangyo-myeon, Seocheon-gun, between Cheonbangsan and Wolmyeongsan, and the designated area of the Jageunjae row-grave site is recorded as 2,835㎡. The 3.5km section of the old road from Sanmakgol to the Jageunjae row graves has been restored as a walking pilgrimage route, and pilgrimages are possible from the Jageunjae row graves onward to faith historic sites such as the Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel site and the Jageunjae Catholic mission chapel site.

Related Places and Figures

• Bishop Daveluy (Daveluy, 1818-1866): one of the missionaries who made Sanmakgol a pastoral center.
• Father Feron (Feron, 1827-1903): ministered at Sanmakgol, writing 6 letters around 1858.
• Saint Hwang Seok-du Luka (1813-1866): moved with his family from Yeonpung to Sanmakgol and stayed there until before the Byeongin Persecution.
• Dokmoe Catholic mission chapel site and Marian garden (Suam-ri, Munsan-myeon, Seocheon-gun), Jageunjae Catholic mission chapel site (Geumdeok-ri, Pangyo-myeon)

References and Sources

1. Digital Seocheon Culture Encyclopedia, Catholic Jageunjae Row-Grave Site. Confirmed the locations of Sanmakgol and Jageunjae, the shelter and marker stone of 2010, the site development of 2017, the circumstances of the exhumation, and the dispatch of the priest in charge and current status of 2023.
   https://seocheon.grandculture.net/seocheon/toc/GC09500892
2. Singwan-dong Church website, Sanmakgol Jageunjae Row Graves (material on shrines and historic sites in Korea). Confirmed the Catholic village after 1839, the ministry of Bishop Daveluy and Father Feron, the migration of the Hwang Seok-du family, the exhumation of 1994, and the memorial Mass of 2010.
   https://www.skcatholic.or.kr/holy/80162
3. GoodNews Catholic Information, Sanmakgol–Jageunjae. Confirmed the introduction to the shrine, the refurbishment Mass on October 2018 and restoration of the old road as a pilgrimage route, and the resident priest of 2023.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2862