Jeonju Supjeongi Shrine

History & origins

The name “Supjeongi” came from the dense woods that once covered the area. During the Joseon period it was used as a military training ground and, because the Jeonju Stream was nearby, also as a place of execution. As persecutions of Catholics continued, the site became one of the principal places where Catholics in the Jeonju region were put to death.

During the Sinyu Persecution of 1801, members of Yu Hang-geum's family, including Sin Hui, Yi Yuk-hui, Lutgarda Yi Sun-i, and Yu Jung-seong, together with fellow Catholic Kim Cheon-ae and others, were martyred here. During the Gihae Persecution of 1839, Yi Il-eon, Sin Tae-bo, Yi Tae-gwon, Jeong Tae-bong, Kim Dae-gwon, who had spent long periods imprisoned in Jeonju Jail, and a number of other Catholics were executed here. In this sense, Supjeongi was historically linked with the Jeonju prison site as the place where suffering in prison culminated in execution.

During the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, six Catholics—Yi Myeong-seo, Son Seon-ji, Jeong Mun-ho, Han Jae-gwon, Jo Hwa-seo, and Jeong Won-ji—were martyred. In 1867, Catholics including Kim Sa-jip were also beheaded here. Because several periods of persecution were layered upon the same site, Supjeongi came to embody multiple chapters of nineteenth-century Catholic persecution in Jeonju rather than a single incident.

After the persecutions ended, a descendant of St. Yi Myeong-seo purchased the martyrdom ground and erected a monument to the martyrs, preserving their memory. The site was later designated Provincial Monument No. 71 and protected as a historic place. Its transformation from an execution ground into a shrine of remembrance and prayer shows how a place of persecution became a place of Christian witness and memory.