Shrine of the Virgin Mary (Seongmodang)

History & origins

The establishment of Seongmodang began with a desire within the Diocese of Incheon to create a place where the faithful could gather and seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In October 2017, during the centenary year of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, the diocese celebrated a groundbreaking Mass and began construction. At the heart of the project was the intention to make the Fatima message of conversion and peace a shared prayer of the diocesan community.

The building process was connected with participation across the whole diocese. In 2018, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima destined for Seongmodang was taken in a series of Masses through 126 parishes of the diocese. After the circuit was completed, the dedication Mass for Seongmodang was celebrated at the diocesan curia on October 13. On that occasion, Bishop John Baptist Jung Shin-chul officially proclaimed Seongmodang a pilgrimage site of the Diocese of Incheon.

After its dedication, Seongmodang became a place of prayer centered on devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, with intentions including world peace, reconciliation and unity on the Korean Peninsula, and the conversion of sinners. Its location within the diocesan administrative center is also distinctive, bringing a place of pilgrimage and prayer into the heart of the curia. In this way, a long-standing prayerful desire of the diocesan faithful took concrete form and continues as a center of Marian devotion and prayer for peace in the Diocese of Incheon.