Chimyeongjasan Sanctuary

History & origins

After Blessed Augustine Yu Hang-geum and six members of his family were martyred during the Sinyu Persecution of 1801, they were buried at Baubaegi near Chonami. Their graves were therefore not located on today's Chimyungjasan immediately after martyrdom; the remains were moved to the present mountaintop later, in the Church's effort to honor and remember the martyrs more fittingly.

In 1914, Father Baudounet, then serving at Jeonju Church, today's Jeondong Church, transferred the remains of Yu Hang-geum's family to the summit of what is now Chimyungjasan. The diocese explains that placing the martyrs on the mountain expressed a desire to honor their faith and virtue and to seek their intercession for Jeonju. This transfer became the decisive event in the formation of the present shrine.

In 1993, an excavation was carried out to identify the remains of Yu Hang-geum. The remains of Yu and all six family members were confirmed and reinterred. In 1994, a memorial church was built below the martyrs' tomb, with additional pilgrimage spaces including a clergy cemetery and the Stations of the Cross. Chimyungjasan thus developed into today's family-martyr shrine through layers of history: the martyrdoms of 1801, the transfer of 1914, the identification and reinterment of 1993, and the later development of the sacred site.