Wonmeori Shrine

Overview

Wonmeori Shrine is a shrine of the Daejeon Diocese located in the Hanjeong-ri area of Sinpyeong-myeon, Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, commemorating the Wonmeori-born martyrs of the Byeongin and Mujin persecutions. The graves of Marco Park Seon-jin and Matthias Park Tae-jin, martyred in Suwon Prison in 1868, lie in the middle of the village. It is under the jurisdiction of Sinpyeong Church.

History

The shrine guide of the Daejeon Diocese explains that a Catholic village was formed in Wonmeori from 1785, when Yi Jon-chang was preaching the Gospel in the Naepo region. The Digital Dangjin Cultural Encyclopedia states that believers appeared in the late 1780s, the very early period of the reception of Catholicism in Korea, and that a faith community had already been formed, and that by around 1791 it had developed into a Naepo faith community extending from Gangmun-ri and Upyeong (old name Sodeul) in Ugang-myeon, Dangjin, through Sindang in Sinpyeong-myeon to Eumseom. It is said that this community overcame distinctions of social status and sex and shared food and goods with the poor.

Concerning the place name ‘Wonmeori,’ the Daejeon Diocese says that it derives from ‘the first head of the eon (堰),’ the embankment built to reclaim seaside tidal flats as rice paddies, while GoodNews says that it is a transformation of ‘eonduri,’ meaning the head portion that blocks off the coastal inlet. The believers engaged in salt farming, fishing, and agriculture, and GoodNews records that it was a Catholic village where believers who had fled to escape persecution lived while making salt plates and firing earthenware vessels. In olden times it was a seaside village, but through reclamation projects it has now become a village in the middle of a plain.

After the Sinyu Persecution in 1801, the Wonmeori faith community rarely appears in records, but the life of the believers continued. When the Byeongin Persecution broke out in 1866, martyrs from Wonmeori emerged during the persecution that lasted more than 3 years until 1868. The Digital Dangjin Cultural Encyclopedia gives their number as 16 and says that 6 of them were martyred by live burial in Hongju and Haemi, while the Daejeon Diocese writes that 20 believers were martyred in Hongju, Haemi, and Suwon during the Great Byeongin Persecution that began in 1866, so the figures of the two sources differ. The community, which had been completely destroyed by the persecution, revived in the 1880s. Exiled believers returned and missionary activity continued, so that believers came to lead the village, and Wonmeori and the surrounding area formed the largest Catholic strength in the Sinpyeong area and played a central role when Sinpyeong Church was established in 1975.

Marco Park Seon-jin and Matthias Park Tae-jin were cousins, and were martyred in Suwon Prison in 1868 (the Mujin year). According to GoodNews, their bodies were buried by the non-believer Seo Deok-haeng on land of the Park family in their hometown Wonmeori, and the Digital Dangjin Cultural Encyclopedia relates that thereafter the Miryang Park clan cared for the graves for generations. On April 4, 1989, the graves were moved to the grounds of Sinpyeong Church and a monument honoring the martyrs was erected, and Sinpyeong Church renovated the graves when it built a new church in 2000. On November 3, 2009, for the honoring of the martyrs and the development of the shrine, their remains were transferred again to the grave area of the Wonmeori martyrdom historic site where they had originally been buried, and the honoring monument was revised and re-erected, while a memorial monument was erected at the Sinpyeong Church site where the two martyrs had been enshrined for more than 20 years. In the meantime the Wonmeori grave area had preserved the empty tombs, so there was no difficulty in restoring its original form. The two martyrs were selected as candidates for the beatification process of ‘John Baptist Yi Byeok and 132 Companions.’ The Daejeon Diocese states that at Wonmeori Shrine at present 22 martyrs are honored, including 20 martyrs of the persecution era and 2 modern and contemporary martyrs, and that prayers are offered for their beatification and canonization.

Related Places and Persons

• Hanjeong Catholic mission chapel: a Catholic mission chapel near the graves of the Wonmeori martyrs.
• Sinpyeong Church: it administers Wonmeori Shrine and was established in 1975.
• Marco Park Seon-jin and Matthias Park Tae-jin: martyrs whose graves are in Wonmeori.

References and Sources

1. Daejeon Diocese, Wonmeori (Hanjeong-ri) Martyrs’ Graves Shrine. Period of Catholic village formation, origin of the place name, 20 martyrs of the Byeongin Persecution, graves of Park Seon-jin and Park Tae-jin, 22 martyrs.
   https://www.djcatholic.or.kr/home/pages/re_shrine_view.php?ids=shrine19
2. GoodNews Catholic Information, Wonmeori in the Daejeon Diocese. Origin of the place name, martyrdom of Park Seon-jin and Park Tae-jin and transfers in 1989 and 2009, candidate for beatification.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2832
3. Digital Dangjin Cultural Encyclopedia, Sinpyeong Wonmeori Shrine. Formation of the faith community in the 1780s, 16 martyrs, reconstruction in the 1880s, establishment of Sinpyeong Church in 1975, care of the graves.
   http://dangjin.grandculture.net/dangjin/toc/GC06400549