Sinri Shrine

Overview

The Sinni Holy Ground (the Dangjin Sinri Bishop Daveluy Historic Site) is a shrine of the Catholic Diocese of Daejeon in Sin-ri, Hapdeok-eup, Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and was the Catholic village where the largest number of believers in late Joseon lived during the persecution era. It is the birthplace of St. Thomas Son Ja-seon and preserves the restored bishop's residence where St. Antonio Daveluy, the 5th head of the Joseon Diocese, stayed and used as the diocesan office, and it is a Chungcheongnam-do Monument.

History

〔Location of Naepo and Sin-ri〕 The official homepage of the Sinni Holy Ground explains that Naepo is the term for the plain area around the Sinni Holy Ground, and that in Catholic history the early French missionaries called the plain adjoining Sapgyocheon and Muhancheon the “Naepo Plain.” Sin-ri is a village on the upper Sapgyocheon where boats came and went at high tide in the Joseon period, and because there was a ferry landing in the adjacent Geodeori, Sin-ri and Geodeori together were called Sin-ri. According to records from the 1860s, the Sin-ri area was entirely wetlands and had no wells, so people drank brackish water mixed with salt. In the Joseon period, Sin-ri was administratively an exclave belonging to Hongju (Hongseong), called “Hongju Sin-ri” (homepage).

〔Formation of the Catholic Village〕 The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that Catholicism reached Sin-ri a little later than 1784, when Yi Jon-chang, the “Apostle of Naepo,” was baptized, and explains that a Catholic village formed around the Miryang Son clan family settled in Sin-ri and grew by about 1866 into a Catholic village in which all of the some 400 villagers were believers. Sin-ri was easily in contact with the outside world by sea route and easily connected with the Catholic villages of Naepo, so it formed one axis of the Joseon Catholic Church. From 1865, Bishop Daveluy, the 5th head of the Joseon Diocese, resided in Sin-ri, and it became the base by which French missionaries entered the country by boat. Dangjin City tourism materials introduce Sin-ri as the largest Catholic village in Joseon and the missionaries’ secret entry point, so that it was also called the “Catacombs of Joseon.”

〔Activities of Bishop Daveluy〕 Good News explains that Bishop Daveluy directed missionary activity from this place, compiled the deeds of the early martyrs and church history into a “memorandum” and sent it to Paris, leaving valuable source material for Korean church history, and wrote and published various church books, beginning modern publishing and printing. Dangjin City materials state that after first setting foot in Ganggyeong with Father Kim Dae-geon in October 1845, Bishop Daveluy worked in Joseon for 21 years until his martyrdom at Galmaemot in 1866, hiding in the house of Thomas Son Ja-seon and, with the help of Lucas Hwang Seok-du, writing Catholic books or translating them into Korean, and that those materials became the basis for Dallet’s “History of the Catholic Church in Korea” and contributed to producing 103 saints.

〔The Byeongin Persecution and Martyrdom (1866–1870)〕 According to the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, the first recorded martyr of Sin-ri is Andrea Son Gyeong-seo, martyred during the Gihae Persecution in 1839. The Byeongin Persecution began in 1866 on the order of the Heungseon Daewongun and continued until he lost power in 1873. Because Bishop Daveluy resided in Sin-ri, persons connected with him were arrested first, Fathers Aumaître and Wouin in a neighboring Catholic village surrendered themselves, and the homeowner Thomas Son Ja-seon and Lucas Hwang Seok-du, who assisted his pastoral work, were also arrested. Bishop Daveluy, Father Aumaître, Father Wouin, and Hwang Seok-du were martyred at Galmaemot in Boryeong on March 30, 1866, and Son Ja-seon was martyred in Gongju (the Culture Encyclopedia gives the same day, while the Sinni Holy Ground homepage gives the next day). In 1866, 4 believers were listed in the martyrology, and 6 more the following year, and after Son Ja-seon’s martyrdom 40 persons were martyred in Seoul, Suwon, Hongju, Haemi, Galmaemot in Boryeong and elsewhere, corresponding to 10% of the identified martyrs of the Naepo region. After the incident in April 1868 in which the German merchant Oppert failed in an attempt to rob the tomb of Namyeon-gun, the Daewongun’s father, a great persecution broke out in which 19 believers of Sin-ri were martyred, and it is said that Oppert’s party reached Deoksan by way of Sapgyocheon with the help of several believers. Most of the unnamed martyrs of Sin-ri are presumed to have resulted from this incident, and 3 persons in 1869, 1 persons in 1870, and 1 persons of unknown year were additionally recorded in the martyrology. Through this persecution the Sin-ri Catholic village completely collapsed and became a village where not a single believer lived, and 46 graves of unnamed martyrs remain in the nearby Daejeon-ri communal cemetery.

〔Restoration of the Faith (1892–1968)〕 Even after freedom of faith was granted, residents who remembered the long persecution refused the inflow of believers, so for a long time no believers could live in Sin-ri. In 1892, Father Kwirillie, a French missionary, built a church in Yangchon 2 km west of Sin-ri (now Sanggung-ri, Godeok-myeon, Yesan-gun), and left a letter dated May 12, 1892 expressing the hope that residents would cast off fear from the hill overlooking Sin-ri (homepage). In 1923, a Catholic mission chapel was established in Geodeori (including Sin-ri), and in 1927 believers purchased the house of Son Ja-seon where Bishop Daveluy had stayed and used it as a Catholic mission chapel. In 1968, when the martyrs of the Byeongin Persecution were beatified, a monument to the blessed martyrs was erected (homepage, Culture Encyclopedia), and with the 200th anniversary of the Korean Catholic Church in 1984, the importance of Sin-ri was highlighted.

〔Development as a Holy Ground (2002–2017)〕 Good News states that the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres were dispatched in 2002 and Sin-ri became widely known, that the Diocese of Daejeon restored Bishop Daveluy’s former bishop’s residence to its original thatched house after historical verification at the end of 2003, and that full development as a holy ground began in 2004 with construction of the memorial church. On May 6, 2006 the blessing was held for the St. Antonio Daveluy and St. Thomas Son Ja-seon Memorial Church and rectory and the restored bishop’s residence, and from 2006 a resident priest was assigned (Culture Encyclopedia). In December 2008 (the 22nd) it was designated as Chungcheongnam-do Monument No. 176 (the homepage states that in the same year it was designated as a plenary-indulgence designated shrine), and on November 19, 2021 the designation number was abolished by public notice of the Cultural Heritage Administration and it was re-designated as a Chungcheongnam-do Monument. In 2009 a large relief on the theme of the martyrs’ resurrection was installed on the outer wall of the memorial church and the outdoor church (Daveluy Plaza) was completed at the end of July the following year, and on May 6, 2014 the St. Daveluy Memorial Hall and Martyrs’ Memorial Park were blessed to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bishop Daveluy’s canonization. In March 2017, on the underground 2 floor of the memorial hall, the country’s only martyrdom art museum was opened, exhibiting martyrdom narrative paintings depicting the deeds of the clergy and martyrs active in the Sin-ri Catholic village.

Architecture and Grounds

The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that the Sinni Holy Ground brings together a church, the Bishop Daveluy Memorial Hall, and the birthplace of Son Ja-seon, with a resident priest assigned. According to Good News, there are the St. Antonio Daveluy and St. Thomas Son Ja-seon Memorial Church and rectory completed in 2006, the restored thatched bishop’s residence, the martyrs’ resurrection relief installed in 2009, the outdoor church (Daveluy Plaza), the Daveluy Memorial Hall and Martyrs’ Memorial Park dedicated in 2014, and the martyrdom art museum opened in 2017. Dangjin City materials introduce the martyrdom art museum as the country’s first sacred-art museum embodying the image of the Roman underground catacombs, exhibiting portraits of five saints and martyrdom narrative paintings.

Related Places and Figures

• Birthplace of Thomas Son Ja-seon and Bishop Daveluy Residence: a restored thatched house in which most of the pillars and frame, beams, rafters, foundation stones, and ridge beam inscription remain as of old (official homepage of the Sinni Holy Ground). Dangjin City materials introduce it as the only persecution-era bishop’s residence retaining its original location and form.
• Galmaemot Martyrs’ Holy Ground: the place where Bishop Daveluy, Fathers Aumaître and Wouin, and Hwang Seok-du were martyred in 1866 (Good News, Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).
• Yangchon Church (Sanggung-ri, Godeok-myeon, Yesan-gun): the church built by Father Kwirillie in 1892, 2 km west of Sin-ri (official homepage of the Sinni Holy Ground).
• Unnamed martyrs’ graves in the Daejeon-ri communal cemetery: there are 46 graves of unnamed martyrs of the Sin-ri Catholic village (Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Official homepage of the Sinni Holy Ground, History of the Sinni Holy Ground. Geography of Naepo and Sin-ri, formation of the Catholic village and martyrdom in the Byeongin Persecution, restoration of the faith and purchase of Son Ja-seon’s house in 1927.
   https://www.sinri.or.kr/kwa-5878
2. Catholic Good News, Holy Grounds and Historic Sites, “Sinni Holy Ground” (Diocese of Daejeon). Activities of Bishop Daveluy, development as a holy ground in 2003–2017 and the memorial hall and martyrdom art museum.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2307
3. Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, “Dangjin Sinri Daveluy Bishop Historic Site.” Environment and faith history of Sin-ri, martyrdom in the Byeongin Persecution, construction history and cultural heritage designation (2008, 2021).
   https://dangjin.grandculture.net/dangjin/toc/GC06400550
4. Dangjin City Culture and Tourism, “Sinni Holy Ground.” Activities of Bishop Daveluy and the status of Sin-ri, introduction to the martyrdom art museum.
   https://www.dangjin.go.kr/prog/tursmCn/tour/sub02_02_03/view.do?cntno=91