Samgil Mission

History & origins

The Catholic community in the Samgil area began with believers who settled in the mountains toward the end of the period of persecution. Diocesan materials state that they made and sold pottery for their livelihood and that Fr. Baudounet, the first pastor of Jeonju Church, established the mission station in the 1910s. The Diocese of Jeonju’s current mission-station directory likewise gives 1910 as its year of establishment. At first, Mass was celebrated in a two-room sarangbang located below the site of the present chapel.

As the community grew, a larger space became necessary. Parish records note that a new chapel was built on August 31, 1960. Catholics from Shindeok, Gwanchon, and Sinpyeong made concrete blocks themselves and contributed their labor, while a diocesan account also records support from Imsil County. The construction therefore reflects both the collective work of local Catholics and assistance from the wider community.

After Fr. Wang Su-hae arrived in January 1980, construction proceeded again, and the present mission-station building was completed that October. Parishioners and their relatives shared construction expenses and labor, and the interior was repaired from November 21 to December 5, 1996. Through these successive stages of rebuilding and repair, Samgil Mission Station preserves the story of a community that began as a mountain Catholic village in the era of persecution and continued to maintain a place of faith amid changing rural conditions and population decline.