산정동 성당

About this place

Sanjeong-dong Catholic Church is a parish church of the Archdiocese of Gwangju in Sanjeong-dong, Mokpo, within the Mokpo-Sinan district, and is closely connected with the beginnings of Catholicism in the Gwangju and South Jeolla region. The archdiocese records the parish as established on May 8, 1897, with the Exaltation of the Holy Cross as its patronal title. It describes the site as the first parish of the archdiocese and the location of the early diocesan administration.

The present Martyrs Memorial Church within the Catholic Mokpo Shrine preserves the memory of Msgr. Patrick Brennan, the local ordinary, and priests of Sanjeong-dong Parish who were abducted and killed during the Korean War in 1950. The site is also remembered as one of the places where the Legion of Mary was first introduced in Korea in 1953, together with Gyeong-dong Catholic Church.

In 2021, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments granted the Martyrs Memorial Church the title and dignity of a Basilica Minor. Following a terminology decision by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea in 2026, the Archdiocese of Gwangju now uses the Korean term meaning "Basilica" rather than the former expression. Sanjeong-dong therefore brings together the living life of a parish with the origins of the archdiocese, memories of wartime martyrdom, the history of the Legion of Mary, and the dignity of a Basilica Minor.

Official source