Congregation of the Sisters of the Martyr's Mother

History & origins

The Catholic Church directory in Korea records October 7, 2007, as the establishment date of the Congregation of Missionaries of Queen of Martyrs and lists the present location in Yangdo-myeon, Ganghwa, as its motherhouse. Official Church reporting explains that the congregation was founded to continue the aspiration for northern mission held by the late Bishop Boniface Choi Ki-san, the second Bishop of Incheon. From its foundation, the congregation established its motherhouse in the Ganghwa area and developed a base for religious formation and missionary apostolates, keeping devotion to the martyrs and evangelization at the heart of its communal identity.

The congregation’s orientation toward northern mission later developed into concrete work for reconciliation and peace within the reality of national division. In 2019 it opened the Reconciliation and Peace Center on Gyodongdo, an island close to North Korea, beginning in a small space of about ten pyeong. The center became a base for peace education, pilgrimage, and support for local Catholic life, showing how the congregation’s mission moved beyond preparation for a future northern mission and into present-day practices of reconciliation.

After the original center suffered difficulties including flooding, the Diocese of Incheon assisted in securing a new building. On June 29, 2023, Bishop John Baptist Jung Shin-chul blessed the new Reconciliation and Peace Center. The center has since offered historical interpretation, peace education, and walking pilgrimages such as “Peace on the Road,” sharing the value of peace with visitors to Gyodongdo. The congregation’s history from the motherhouse to its peace apostolate on Gyodongdo shows how the founder’s hope for northern mission has expanded, in the circumstances of the present age, into concrete ministries of reconciliation, education, and pilgrimage.