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About this place
Gokseong Catholic Church is a parish church of the Archdiocese of Gwangju in Gokseong-eup, Gokseong County, within the northern Gwangju area of the archdiocese. The archdiocese names Our Lady of the Rosary as the parish patron and records the formation of the parish community and church at the present site in 1958.
The site is directly connected with the Jeonghae Persecution of 1827. At that time the guesthouse of the Gokseong government office was used as a temporary prison for Catholics, and arrests and interrogations that began there contributed to the persecution spreading to other regions. In 1957 Archbishop Harold Henry decided to establish a parish on the former prison site, and the church was completed the following year.
Gokseong Catholic Church is therefore both a living parish where Mass and the sacraments are celebrated today and a place that preserves the memory of local martyr history. The same ground is commemorated by the Archdiocese of Gwangju as the "Gokseong Catholic Church Prison Site," allowing the present life of the parish to be understood together with the memory of nineteenth-century Catholics who suffered persecution.
History & origins
The establishment of a parish in Gokseong was directly connected with a desire to preserve the site associated with the Jeonghae Persecution of 1827. According to the Archdiocese of Gwangju, Archbishop Harold Henry decided in 1957 to establish a parish on the site where the guesthouse of the former Gokseong government office had been used as a temporary prison for Catholics. The parish community and church were established there the following year.
Two official archdiocesan pages describe the dates in 1958 somewhat differently. The current parish directory lists October 6 as the establishment date, while the martyr-site history distinguishes between the establishment of the parish on August 15 and completion of the church on October 6. The most accurate way to describe the beginning of Gokseong Parish is therefore as a 1958 process in which a parish was established on the historic persecution site and the church building was then completed.
Since then Gokseong Catholic Church has continued parish life on the same ground. It combines two identities: an active local parish where Mass and the sacraments are celebrated, and a place that preserves the memory of the Jeonghae Persecution.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Gokseong Catholic Church: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 0
- 2 above-ground floors · 0 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2025
- Total floor area: 1,242㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Gwangju Archdiocese (Archdiocese of Gwangju)
Official website: https://www.gjcatholic.or.kr/
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