Samgi Mission Station

History & origins

The history of Catholic mission life in Samgi begins in 1941, when Oryong and Seokbul Mission Stations were established under Changin-dong Parish. At that time Philip Park Heun-gyu moved to Gujeong-ri in Samgi-myeon and operated a pottery workshop. Employees and local Catholics gathered in his home for mission-station prayers. The communities formed around these two mission stations and the household prayer gathering eventually became the foundation of today's Samgi Mission Station.

When Hwangdeung Mission Station was raised to parish status on March 19, 1960, Oryong and Seokbul were merged to form Samgi Mission Station under Hwangdeung Parish. The community then numbered about eighty Catholics. Park Heun-gyu donated roughly 700 pyeong of land to the diocese, and parishioners collected small amounts of rice as seed money and made and laid bricks themselves in order to build the present chapel.

The mission chapel was blessed by Father Seo Jeong-su on December 8, 1974, and on January 26 of the following year newly ordained Father Park Jong-sang celebrated his first Mass there. A statue of Mary and Stations of the Cross were later added, and the building underwent interior and exterior repairs. When Hwangdeung Parish church was remodeled, an altar that had been used before the Second Vatican Council was transferred to Samgi and preserved there. The merging of smaller mission communities and the construction of the chapel through the gift of land and the labor of local Catholics are the defining features of Samgi's history.