Yeosauleong Sanctuary

History & origins

The historical starting point of Yeosaul is closely connected with Ludovicus Yi Jon-chang. According to the Diocese of Daejeon's shrine guide, after receiving baptism in 1784 he returned to his hometown of Yeosaul and evangelized the northwestern part of Chungcheong known as Naepo, forming Catholic communities with people around him. Through his activity, Catholicism spread widely in Yeosaul and neighboring areas, and later generations remembered him as the “Apostle of Naepo.”

The faith that took root around Yeosaul did not end with one generation. The area produced the saintly brothers Peter Hong Byeong-ju and Paul Hong Yeong-ju and was also the hometown of Andrew Kim Gwang-ok and his son Francis Kim Hui-seong. The two Kims were beatified by Pope Francis in 2014. Yeosaul therefore embodies, in one place, the movement of the Naepo Church from the early reception of the Gospel to witness under persecution.

Despite the pressure of persecution, the continuity of the community was largely preserved. The Diocese of Daejeon explains that, apart from roughly ten years after the Byeongin Persecution, a Catholic community in the area has continued from the beginnings of the Korean Church to the present. The memorial church for Yi Jon-chang and the old mission-station building that remain at the shrine make this continuity visible. As the faith memory of an old village community has become a modern pilgrimage place, Yeosaul has come to commemorate both the beginnings of evangelization in Naepo and the endurance of a community that survived persecution.