Myeonghyung's House Retreat Center

History & origins

The presence of the Clerical Congregation of the Blessed Korean Martyrs in Jeju began with its arrival on the island on August 17, 1959. The Catholic directory likewise records 1959 as the founding year of Myeonhyeong House Retreat Center. The congregation took root on the former site of Hongro Parish in the Seogwipo area, and in April 1967 the old church was demolished and replaced with a cement-brick church.

A dedicated place for retreat ministry was established more fully on May 4, 1976, when a three-story retreat house was built. It was first called Bokja Hall and was renamed “Myeonhyeong House” in March 1992, using a spiritual term associated with the congregation’s founder. The name expresses the vocation to be conformed to the likeness of Christ and underscores that the site is a place for prayer and spiritual renewal rather than simply accommodation.

On November 30, 2011, the monastery was renamed for Felix Peter Kim Gi-ryang, the first martyr from Jeju, and on May 15, 2013, the monastery and chapel were blessed on the site. The complex has continued to serve retreats and faith formation while also preserving the history and ecological memory of the local Church. In 2023 it hosted a forum for the 150th anniversary of Father Émile Taquet’s birth and the blessing of his relief portrait, showing how the memory of the former Hongro Parish and its missionaries remains connected to the present spiritual center.