About this place
Shinsido Choe Yang-eop Park is a pilgrimage site of the Catholic Diocese of Jeonju commemorating the stay of Venerable Fr. Thomas Choe Yang-eop on Shinsido in 1847, before his priestly ordination, during an attempt to enter Korea. The pilgrimage guide of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea and diocesan materials identify Choe’s stay in the Shinsido area as the central memory associated with the site.
The place invites reflection on the period before Choe became the second Korean Catholic priest and traveled widely among scattered Catholic communities, when he repeatedly took great risks in trying to return to Korea. It is therefore less a shrine centered on a monumental church or an old parish complex than a commemorative pilgrimage space that connects a brief stay and a maritime entry attempt with the landscape itself. Because current sources give differing address references for the commemorative point, this description does not assert whether or how the marker has been relocated and instead focuses on the documented Shinsido episode and its spiritual significance.
History & origins
In 1847 Thomas Choe Yang-eop, then a deacon, attempted to enter Korea together with French missionaries. With the assistance of a French naval vessel, they approached Korea by the West Sea, but around August 10 their ship ran aground in the Gogunsan area. Choe and his companions stayed on Shinsido for about a month and made contact with nearby Catholics, but they were ultimately unable to accomplish their entry and had to return to Shanghai.
This failure was one of several attempts Choe made to return to Korea before his priestly ministry. He was ordained a priest in 1849 and later entered Korea, becoming the second Korean Catholic priest. The stay on Shinsido did not itself end in a successful entry, yet it came to be remembered as a vivid episode showing his determination to return for the sake of the Korean Church and the isolation experienced by Catholic communities under persecution.
The Diocese of Jeonju records that the location of the Shinsido stay was examined through academic work in 2013 and that a memorial marker was installed there; in 2014, the first Mass was celebrated at the marked site. It subsequently developed into a pilgrimage place where Catholics pray for Choe Yang-eop’s beatification and canonization and remember his missionary spirit. Diocesan commemorative Masses continue to connect the brief stay of 1847 with present-day pilgrimage memory.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Shinsido Choi Yang-eop Park: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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- 한국천주교주교회의 온라인 주소록
Diocese
Jeonju Diocese (Diocese of Jeonju)
Official website: https://www.jcatholic.or.kr
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