Shrine of the Martyrs of Ilman

History & origins

From the late Joseon period through the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church in Korea endured repeated persecutions in which many believers gave their lives in witness to the faith. The exact number of martyrs cannot be fully established, but the Korean Church has traditionally remembered roughly ten thousand martyrs, while the identities of only a portion of them are known.

The Memorial Garden of the Ten Thousand Martyrs was created as a pilgrimage site that gathers this historical memory into a single place of commemoration. In particular, the “Path of the Unknown Martyrs” is intended to ensure that those whose names and lives were not preserved in documents are not forgotten. Through the statue of an unknown martyr and other symbolic works, pilgrims are invited to contemplate the witness of faith that remains outside the written record. A 2022 Catholic Times feature for the Month of the Martyrs likewise described the site as a pilgrimage place honoring approximately ten thousand martyrs, including the unnamed.

Today the memorial garden is officially registered by the Diocese of Incheon as a shrine and historical site. In 2024, the Retreat House of the Ten Thousand Martyrs was established on the same grounds. The addition connects outdoor pilgrimage centered on the memory of the martyrs with periods of residential prayer and retreat, allowing devotion to the martyrs to continue into personal reflection and communal spiritual life.