Hadong Mission Station

History & origins

The Diocese of Jeonju’s account of Hadong states that Catholics from Jeolla as well as Seoul, Gyeonggi, and parts of Gyeongsang fled into the mountain valleys during the Byeongin Persecution and eventually formed a Catholic village after the persecutions ended. In the early period there was no separate mission-station building, so communal rites were held in Catholic homes while residents supported themselves through farming and traditional paper production.

In 1954 the first mission-station leader, Benedict Kim Su-il, donated a site. Catholics raised funds by selling relief goods and provided communal labor, carrying stones from the mountains to build a chapel. In 1974 the community moved to the present site and constructed another building. Diocesan records even describe households setting aside a spoonful of rice at each meal and bringing it on Sundays to help finance the mission station.

In 1985 a mixed Legion of Mary praesidium, Queen of Peace, was founded and became part of community life, but it ceased meeting after July 2009 as residents and Catholics moved away. Hadong remains registered under Jangsu Parish today. Its history shows a community that began in the memory of persecution refugees, repeatedly built its own place of worship, and continued to preserve its Catholic identity despite demographic decline.