Peter Lee Seung-hoon Tomb (Banjugol)

History & origins

Yi Seung-hun was baptized in Beijing in 1784 by Father Louis de Grammont, receiving the Christian name Peter. After returning to Joseon, he took part in forming a Catholic community and spreading the faith. He later endured repeated persecution and political pressure and was beheaded outside Seosomun during the Sinyu Persecution of 1801. His body was buried at Banjugol in Jangsu-dong, Incheon, where the ancestral burial ground of the Pyeongchang Yi clan was located.

Banjugol did not remain the burial place of Yi Seung-hun alone. His third son, Matthias Yi Sin-gyu, continued in the faith and was martyred in 1868; he was buried directly below his father. Several other descendants also suffered martyrdom during the persecution era. The site therefore came to embody a history of Catholic faith sustained across generations within one family.

In 1981, during efforts connected with the development of the Cheonjinam shrine, Yi Seung-hun’s grave was opened with the intention of transferring his remains. Most of the remains had already returned to dust, and the bones that could be recovered were moved to the Cheonjinam Shrine. Even so, the original grave at Banjugol, where he had rested for more than 180 years, retained its historical significance.

In 2011, the City of Incheon designated the Tomb of Yi Seung-hun as Incheon Metropolitan City Monument No. 63 and placed it under protection. Banjugol thus remains a place where the martyrdom of Yi Seung-hun, the faith of his family, and the early history of Catholicism in Korea are remembered at the authentic burial site itself.