Chonam Iseongji

Overview

Chonami Shrine is a shrine of the Diocese of Jeonju located in Namgye-ri, Iseo-myeon, Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province (formerly called Chonami), on the site of the birth home where Augustine Yu Hang-geom, the ‘Apostle of Honam,’ and his family lived. Known as the birthplace of Catholicism in Honam, it is the place where the virgin married couple Yu Jung-cheol and Yi Sun-i lived for 4 years, and Baubaegi, where the remains of Korea’s first martyrs Yun Ji-chung and Kwon Sang-yeon were found, is nearby.

History

[Yu Hang-geom’s conversion and family] According to the Digital Wanju Culture Encyclopedia, the first people in Jeolla to accept the Catholic faith were Yu Hang-geom and Yun Ji-chung, who were maternal cousins, and Yu Hang-geom, who was baptized first, is called the ‘Apostle of Jeolla.’ Yu Hang-geom’s ancestral seat was Jinju, and the Culture Encyclopedia records that he was born in 1754 in Chonami, Iseo-myeon, Jeonju-bu (present-day Chonam Village, Namgye-ri, Iseo-myeon, Wanju-gun) (the Chimyeongjasan Shrine website and Jeonbuk Daily give 1756). His mother, of the Andong Kwon clan, was Kwon Sang-yeon’s paternal aunt, so Kwon Sang-yeon was Yu Hang-geom’s maternal cousin, and his paternal family, maternal family and wife’s family were all Namin. After hearing the rumor that young Namin scholars in Yanggeun, Gyeonggi-do were studying Western learning, Yu Hang-geom went there, came to know Catholicism, and was baptized by Yi Seung-hun with the baptismal name ‘Augustine’ (the Diocese of Jeonju gives 1784). After returning to his hometown, he baptized family members, slaves, household members and visitors, through which Catholicism spread to Jeonju, Gimje, Jeongeup, Gochang and Yeonggwang. The Diocese of Jeonju explains that he, the richest man in Honam, practiced sharing, treated servants as brothers, and spread the Gospel.

[Provisional clerical system and secret envoys to Beijing] The Culture Encyclopedia records that in the spring of 1786 Catholic leaders created a provisional clerical system and Yi Seung-hun and others were appointed priests, and that Yu Hang-geom, while examining Catholic books with his younger brother Yu Gwan-geom, discovered that a married person performing priestly ministry would commit a sin against chastity and informed Yi Seung-hun in the spring of 1787. Afterwards, Yun Yu-il was dispatched to Beijing for the first time on October 1789 and for the second time on July 1790, carrying Yu Hang-geom’s letters and other materials. In 1791, with the martyrdom of Yun Ji-chung, Yu Hang-geom also suffered persecution, but made a false apostasy and continued his life of faith (Culture Encyclopedia).

[Father Ju Mun-mo and the movement to invite a large ship] The Culture Encyclopedia records that on April 1795 Father Ju Mun-mo visited Jeonju from Hanyang at Yu Hang-geom’s invitation, and the Diocese of Jeonju explains that in 1795 Father Ju Mun-mo stayed for a week at the catechism hall here and celebrated Mass and confessions. After Father Ju Mun-mo’s entry, when Yun Yu-il, Choe In-gil, Hwang Sim and others were executed, the Joseon Church came to regard inviting a large ship as the shortcut to escape persecution, and Yu Hang-geom and his younger brother Yu Gwan-geom, his son Yu Jung-tae, Yun Ji-heon living in Jeoguri, Gosan, and others gave it concrete form. Beginning with Hwang Sim in 1796, secret envoys were dispatched to Beijing several times in 1797–1801, and the Culture Encyclopedia records that their practical spiritual and material supporter was Yu Hang-geom and that he bore most of the expenses.

[Catechism hall and growth of the Jeolla Church] The Diocese of Jeonju explains that the catechism hall was the place where Yu Hang-geom taught and discussed doctrine and provided lodging, and that from here Catholicism spread to Jeonju, Gimje, Geumgu, Yeonggwang and other places. The Culture Encyclopedia records that in Jeolla there was no persecution for 10 years after the Sinhae Persecution in 1791, so believers increased greatly, with the number of believers reaching 4 thousand by around 1790 and about 1 thousand by around 1800, and that Yu Hang-geom, centered on Chonami, distributed his own fields to poor people.

[The virgin married couple Yu Jung-cheol and Yi Sun-i] The Culture Encyclopedia records that in 1797, as the movement to invite a large ship matured, Yu Hang-geom’s eldest son Yu Jung-cheol and Yi Sun-i of a prestigious Seoul family were married by Father Ju Mun-mo, and that in 1798 Yi Sun-i moved to Chonami and, before her parents, vowed to live as a virgin married couple, and then until martyrdom lived for 4 years as brother and sister. Good News and the Diocese of Jeonju also explain that this birth home site is where the two lived as a virgin married couple for 4 years.

[Sinyu Persecution and demolition of the house (1801)] The Culture Encyclopedia records that when the Sinyu Persecution began, runners of the Jeolla provincial office raided Chonami, Iseo-myeon, arrested Yu Hang-geom and his younger brother Yu Gwan-geom and seized surrounding people, and arrested more than 200 believers in Jeonju, Geumgu, Gimje, Gosan, Mujang, Heungdeok, Yeonggwang, Hampyeong, Muan and other places and imprisoned them. Sentenced to death on lunar September 11 in 1801, Yu Hang-geom was executed with his companions on September 17 outside Pungnam Gate in Jeonju (the present site of Jeondong Church). His property was confiscated and his family members were dragged away, and the house was demolished as punishment, and the house site was dug out to become a pit (pond). The Diocese of Jeonju records that Yu Hang-geom suffered death by dismemberment, and that his sons Yu Jung-cheol and Yu Mun-seok were martyred in Jeonju prison, and Yi Sun-i and his nephew Yu Jung-seong, his wife Sin Hui and his sister-in-law Yi Yuk-hui were martyred at Supjeongi.

[Burial and reburial of the remains] Good News records that surviving servants and relatives secretly recovered the bodies but could not bury them in the hometown land of Chonami and temporarily buried them in Jaenam-ri, Gimje-gun. The Culture Encyclopedia and the Diocese of Jeonju record that the family’s remains were buried at Baubaegi next to Chonami and then, on April 19, 1914, were moved by Father Bodune, who built Jeondong Church, and believers to the present summit of Chimyeongjasan Shrine, and the Culture Encyclopedia (article on Chonami, the birthplace of Jeolla Catholicism) records that the temporary burial site was confirmed as a field site 600 meters west of Chonami Shrine. Yu Hang-geom, Yu Jung-cheol, Yi Sun-i, Yu Mun-seok and Yu Jung-seong were beatified by Pope Francis on August 16, 2014 at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul.

[Beginning of shrine development (1985–1987)] Good News records that the development of Chonami Shrine began with the purchase of the demolished-house site, the birth home site of Yu Hang-geom, as part of a commemorative project ahead of the 50th anniversary (1987) of the establishment of the Diocese of Jeonju in 1985. The Culture Encyclopedia records that Father Kim Jin-so of the Honam Church History Research Institute searched the area of Yu Hang-geom’s birth home for several years in the 1970s but could not find it, and then, with the help of a Confucian scholar living in Wondong, confirmed the present site, and it was finalized through villagers’ testimonies and the discovery of government-compiled historical sources. The 50th anniversary project subcommittee of the Diocese of Jeonju decided to purchase the birth home site and entrusted it to Father Kwon I-bok, pastor of Dongsan-dong Church. The Diocese of Jeonju confirmed the demolished-house site, the Yu Hang-geom catechism hall site and the temporary burial site on the basis of Yi U-jip’s interrogation records, natives’ testimonies and other evidence, and proceeded with sanctification (Good News), and blessed it as a shrine in 1987. The Culture Encyclopedia’s metadata gives the time of establishment as April 13, 1987 and the founders as Bishop Park Jeong-il and Father Kwon I-bok.

[Improvement of the shrine (2000–2014)] According to the Culture Encyclopedia, the development of Chonami Shrine got into full swing with the appointment of Father Kim Hwan-cheol on January 2000, with work on the pond at the birth home site, construction of a new loft where Mass could be offered, purchase of a bus parking lot, creation of a catechism hall, and purchase of surrounding land. Father Kim Hwan-cheol organized the ‘Eunsa Society’ and the ‘Eunchong Society’ to promote the beatification and canonization cause, offered an annual memorial Mass on October for ‘the day Rugarda came as a bride,’ and this led to the regular event ‘Joan-Rugarda Festival,’ with a walking pilgrimage from Chonami Shrine to Chimyeongjasan Shrine. According to Good News, in 2000 the birth home site was refurbished, in 2002 the hanok-style catechism hall and the spring ‘Jeongjisyam’ (spring water) were restored, in 2005 the memorial chapel for Father Ju Mun-mo’s celebration of Mass was built as a linear hanok, and in 2006 the servants’ quarters where the virgin married couple had lived for 4 years was restored next to the demolished-house site and is used as a Eucharistic adoration room. While preparing for the beatification ceremony, a chapel was prepared at the birth home site and landscaping was done at the entrance to the catechism hall site. Father Ha Tae-jin, appointed in 2011, remodeled the chapel, demolished unauthorized buildings, purchased surrounding land, and newly built the ‘Yu Hang-geom House of Sharing,’ the shrine’s long-cherished project (Culture Encyclopedia).

[Discovery of remains at Baubaegi and excavation (2021–2022)] The Diocese of Jeonju explains that Baubaegi is the place where the remains of Korea’s first martyrs Blessed Paul Yun Ji-chung and Blessed James Kwon Sang-yeon, beheaded in the Sinhae Persecution in 1791, and Sinyu Persecution martyr Blessed Francis Yun Ji-heon were found on March 11, 2021, 230 years after martyrdom, and that the three persons’ remains are enshrined in the martyrs’ tomb at the catechism hall. Jeonbuk Daily (March 15, 2022) reports that on September 2021 Yun Ji-chung’s bones and relics were confirmed and that the Diocese of Jeonju identified them as Yun Ji-chung, Yun Ji-heon and Kwon Sang-yeon through scientific methods such as anatomical examination and radiocarbon dating. The National Wanju Cultural Heritage Research Institute began an academic excavation in 2022 to restore the authenticity of Chonami Shrine, aimed at confirming additional burials in the Baubaegi area and securing soil samples to trace the martyrs’ original burial site, and once the investigation is completed, a mid- to long-term excavation of Yu Hang-geom’s birth home is also planned.

[Recent developments (2025)] Yonhap News (May 14, 2025) reports that Wanju-gun is establishing Chonami Shrine as the ‘birthplace of the early Korean Catholic faith community,’ including it as a major pilgrimage course for World Youth Day in 2027 and improving infrastructure to accommodate large numbers of pilgrims. It also reported that a project to establish the world heritage value of Catholic heritage centered on Chonami Shrine is underway.

Architecture and Space

According to Good News and the Culture Encyclopedia, the shrine has the Yu Hang-geom birth home site (demolished-house site, the pit remaining in the form of a pond), the hanok-style catechism hall restored in 2002 and the spring ‘Jeongjisyam,’ the linear-hanok memorial chapel for Father Ju Mun-mo’s celebration of Mass built in 2005, the servants’ quarters of the virgin married couple restored in 2006 (the present Eucharistic adoration room), a loft where Mass can be offered, and the ‘Yu Hang-geom House of Sharing’ for pilgrims’ convenience. The Diocese of Jeonju explains that the remains of Yun Ji-chung, Kwon Sang-yeon and Yun Ji-heon are enshrined in the martyrs’ tomb at the catechism hall.

Related Places and People

• Chimyeongjasan Shrine: the shrine in Jeonju where the remains of the Yu Hang-geom family were moved and buried together in 1914 (Good News, Digital Wanju Culture Encyclopedia).
• Jeondong Church: the church built on the site outside Pungnam Gate in Jeonju where Yu Hang-geom was executed, which 10 years earlier had also been the execution site of Yun Ji-chung and Kwon Sang-yeon (Digital Wanju Culture Encyclopedia).
• Supjeongi Shrine and Jeonju Prison: the places where Yu Jung-cheol and Yu Mun-seok (Jeonju Prison), and Yi Sun-i, Yu Jung-seong, Sin Hui and Yi Yuk-hui (Supjeongi) were martyred (Diocese of Jeonju).
• Baubaegi: the site near Chonami Shrine where the remains of Yun Ji-chung, Kwon Sang-yeon and Yun Ji-heon were found in 2021 (Diocese of Jeonju).
• Doejae Church: the nation’s first hanok church in Hwasan-myeon, Wanju-gun, where a parish was established in 1895. It was designated as Jeollabuk-do Monument No. 199 in 2004 and then rebuilt as the original hanok church in 2009 (Digital Wanju Culture Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Catholic Good News Shrines and Historic Sites, “Chonami Shrine” (Diocese of Jeonju). The Yu Hang-geom family’s birth home site, demolition of the house, sanctification after 1985 and facility development in 2000–2006.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=2363
2. Digital Wanju Culture Encyclopedia, “Chonami Shrine.” Yu Hang-geom and the movement to invite a large ship, reburial in 1914, establishment of the shrine (1987.4.13) and confirmation of the birth home site by Father Kim Jin-so, development in the time of Fathers Kim Hwan-cheol and Ha Tae-jin.
   https://www.grandculture.net/wanju/toc/GC07000951
3. Digital Wanju Culture Encyclopedia, “Chonami, the birthplace of Jeolla Catholicism, and Doejae Church, the nation’s first hanok church.” Yu Hang-geom’s conversion and the provisional clerical system, secret envoys to Beijing, the virgin married couple, the Sinyu Persecution and development of the shrine.
   https://www.grandculture.net/wanju/toc/GC07001370
4. Diocese of Jeonju, shrine guide “Chonami Shrine.” Birth home site and catechism hall, Father Ju Mun-mo’s Mass in 1795, remains of 7 martyrs, discovery of remains at Baubaegi (2021.3.11).
   https://www.jcatholic.or.kr/theme/main/pages/terrasanta04.php
5. Jeonbuk Daily, “Launch of investigation to restore authenticity of Chonami Shrine in Iseo, Wanju” (2022.3.15). Academic excavation by the National Wanju Cultural Heritage Research Institute and identification of martyrs’ bones.
   https://www.jjan.kr/article/20220315580240
6. Yonhap News, “Wanju Chonami Shrine rapidly emerging as candidate site for papal visit” (2025.5.14). Establishing the status of Chonami Shrine and projects in preparation for World Youth Day in 2027.
   https://www.yna.co.kr/view/RPR20250514014300353