Hwang Kyung-Han Tomb

History & origins

Hwang Gyeong-han was born to Hwang Sa-yeong Alexius and Jeong Nan-ju Maria. During the Catholic persecution of 1801, Hwang Sa-yeong was arrested and executed in connection with the Silk Letter incident, and his family was also punished. Jeong Nan-ju was exiled to Jeju, while Hwang Gyeong-han, then two years old, was sentenced to exile on Chuja Island. Mother and son were separated in this process and never again lived together.

Catholic pilgrimage sources relate that Hwang Gyeong-han remained on Chuja Island and grew up there. His tomb survives on Hachuja Island and today connects the story of Jeong Nan-ju's exile on the main island of Jeju with the history of the son who lived on Chuja.

The historical weight of the tomb cannot be explained by one life alone. It preserves in a physical place the consequences of the 1801 persecution and the Hwang Sa-yeong Silk Letter incident, which broke apart a family and scattered its members to different places of exile. The tomb therefore offers a concrete way to remember how the late Joseon persecution of Catholics affected family life as well as individual believers.