Cheonho Sanctuary

History & origins

The Catholic community at Cheonho traces its roots to a village formed when believers fleeing persecution settled around Cheonhosan after the Gihae Persecution. The mountainous terrain offered refuge. Nearby, the Mass Cave is remembered as a place where Bishop Ferréol and Father Daveluy hid and celebrated Mass after Father Andrew Kim Tae-gon was arrested in 1845. In 1867, Father Blanc settled at Eoreumgol and began pastoral ministry in the Jeolla region, so the area continued to serve as a pastoral foothold after the years of persecution.

During the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, the remains of four of the six saints martyred at Supjeongi in Jeonju—Yi Myeong-seo, Son Seon-ji, Jeong Mun-ho, and Han Jae-gwon—were buried at Cheonho. Kim Yeong-o Augustine, martyred in Gongju that same year, and ten martyrs killed in Yeosan in 1868 were also laid to rest here. As the village formed in flight from persecution and the graves of numerous martyrs came together in one place, Cheonho became an important site of memory for the martyr faith of the Diocese of Jeonju.

In later generations, facilities were developed to preserve the martyr cemetery and traces of the Catholic village and to receive pilgrims. The shrine's present spaces for prayer and retreat carry the memory of persecution and martyrdom into contemporary faith formation and spiritual life. The history of Cheonho Shrine can therefore be understood as a continuous story of refuge and settlement, the burial of martyrs, and their later commemoration through pilgrimage.