Sinri Shrine

History & origins

After Catholicism spread through Naepo in the late eighteenth century, Sinri became one of the villages in which a large community of believers developed. The official history of Sinri Shrine explains that Catholicism took deep root in Naepo after the missionary work of Yi Jon-chang, Ludovicus Gonzaga, and that Sinri became an important center within that movement. By the mid-nineteenth century it was a significant base where French missionaries could travel, stay, and continue the work of the Church.

Saint Antoine Daveluy spent many years ministering in Joseon and stayed at Sinri, where the house of Saint Thomas Son Ja-seon became an important residence and center of church activity. When the Byeongin Persecution began in 1866, Daveluy, Saint Pierre Aumaître, Saint Luc Huin, and Saint Luke Hwang Seok-du were arrested in the area around Sinri, while Thomas Son Ja-seon also suffered martyrdom. They were later canonized, and Sinri became a place where the lives and martyrdom of these five saints are remembered together.

The community, weakened by persecution, eventually revived. According to the shrine's official history, a mission station was established in 1923 in the Geodeori area that included Sinri. In 1927 local Catholics purchased the house of Saint Thomas Son Ja-seon, where Daveluy had stayed, and used it as their mission station. The building was later preserved as the residence associated with the bishop and became one of the central historic spaces of the shrine.

From the later twentieth century onward, the commemoration of the martyrs and the development of the shrine became more systematic, and in the 2000s the complex gained a memorial church and additional spaces for exhibitions and prayer. The Directory of the Catholic Church in Korea records the establishment of Sinri Shrine Parish on January 14, 2009. Sinri thus continues as a living parish community while preserving the memory of a persecuted Catholic village and a major site of martyrdom.