Su-hang Mission

History & origins

A Diocese of Jeonju bulletin records that Suhang Mission Station was established in 1890 by Fr. François-Xavier Baudounet of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. Baudounet served in Korea for many years and took part in laying the foundations of the Catholic Church in the Jeonju area.

The mission station was originally called Hansilgol Mission Station after the old local place name, and later became Suhang Mission Station in accordance with the administrative name. To replace the older facilities, land for a new mission building was purchased on October 19, 1986, and a cement-block building of about twenty pyeong was completed on November 16 of the same year.

A 2014 diocesan bulletin still lists a Lenten sacramental Mass at Suhang, showing that pastoral activity continued there at that time. The current diocesan list, however, marks Suhang as 'not in operation.' The history therefore shows a Catholic community founded in the late nineteenth century, sustained for many decades, and now preserved primarily through the traces left by the former mission station.