Seojitgol Shrine

History & origins

During the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, five saints were martyred at Galmaemot: Bishop Daveluy, Fathers Aumaître and Huin, Hwang Seok-du Luke, and Jang Ju-gi Joseph. According to the Diocese of Daejeon's shrine guide, the bodies of Bishop Daveluy, Fathers Aumaître and Huin, and Jang Ju-gi Joseph were separately recovered by Catholics and taken to Seojitgol. At a time when persecution was still continuing, recovering and burying the bodies of martyrs was itself an act of faith carried out at considerable risk.

The remains of the four martyrs stayed at Seojitgol for sixteen years. In 1882, while the situation remained insecure, they were exhumed and taken to Nagasaki, Japan, and in 1894 they were brought back to Korea. This sequence—from secret burial after martyrdom to safer preservation and eventual return—reflects the gradual change from a persecuted Church to one increasingly able to honor its martyrs openly.

The four martyrs were canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984. Seojitgol thereafter came to be recognized not simply as an old burial site but as a martyr shrine publicly remembered by the Korean Church. The shrine also directs attention to the unnamed Catholics who protected the remains there for so many years.

The history of Seojitgol therefore extends beyond the martyrdom itself. The deaths at Galmaemot, the recovery and sixteen-year burial of the bodies, the transfer and return of the remains, and their eventual canonization together shaped the site into a place devoted to the veneration and remembrance of the martyrs.