Thomas Retreat Center

History & origins

The background of Thomas Shelter lies in the intention to donate of Columba Kim Gyeong-ae, who spent many years teaching at Jeonju Sacred Heart Girls' High School. The Catholic Times reported that Kim was a fifth-generation descendant of the martyr Thomas Kim Seong-cheom, martyred in Yeosan, and that around the time of her retirement she intended to establish a facility called 'Thomas Shelter' on land she had secured near Cheonho Shrine and donate it to the diocese. The report shows that the name was not chosen arbitrarily but arose from a desire to remember the martyr faith of her family.

Today, Thomas Shelter appears in both the Diocese of Jeonju institutional directory and the Catholic Church Directory in Korea as a diocesan retreat and prayer house. The broad historical movement from a private plan of donation to an actual diocesan spiritual facility can therefore be verified. Publicly available official sources, however, do not provide the exact opening or blessing date or the detailed process by which the facility was transferred to diocesan use, so no such date has been inferred.

The history of Thomas Shelter is best understood as the story of a descendant of a martyr creating a place to remember her ancestor's faith and that place later serving as a diocesan retreat facility. Its historical significance lies in showing how the memory of martyrdom at Cheonho expanded beyond graves and monuments into a descendant's act of sharing and a living space for prayer and retreat.