Daesan Catholic Church Guhanseon Tadaeo Sacred Site (Diocesan Martyrs' Tomb)

Overview

The Daesan Church Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus Shrine, connected to the Byeongin Persecution in 1866, is a shrine of the Masan Diocese established at Daesan Church in Daesan-myeon, Haman-gun, Gyeongnam, enshrining the remains of Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus (1844–1866) who was flogged at the Jinju government office and released but died seven days later from the effects of the beating. The remains of Gu Han-seon were transferred in October 2016 from the old burial ground to the tomb chapel on the 1 floor of Daesan Church, and on the 29th of the same month a dedication ceremony for the memorial altar was celebrated, presided over by Diocesan Bishop Bae Gi-hyeon.

History

Gu Han-seon (具漢善) Thaddeus was born into a chungin family at Minarigol in Haman, Gyeongsang-do (present-day Pyeongnim-ri, Daesan-myeon, Haman-gun, Gyeongnam). The brief biography of the 124 Blesseds published by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea records that he was bright from childhood, read widely, and before accepting the faith had at one time become absorbed in a kind of sorcery. The GoodNews shrine introduction explains that he read many Confucian books and miscellaneous writings and was interested in the art of summoning spirit generals (神將) through sorcery, and it describes Minarigol as marshland on the lower reaches of the Namgang River near where it meets the Nakdong River, a place people avoided living in because of flooding in summer and where water-parsley ponds were abundant.

One day, after meeting a Catholic by chance and hearing the doctrine, he accepted it at once, learned the catechism, and was baptized by Bishop Saint Daveluy (Daveluy). After practicing the doctrine for about 10 years, he was chosen as an assistant to Father Ridel (Ridel) and accompanied him in evangelization on Geoje Island (brief biography of the Bishops’ Conference). GoodNews reports that after becoming an adult he fervently practiced the doctrine in the Sochon (文山) Catholic village, and just before the Byeongin Persecution he followed Father Ridel through the Catholic villages of Goseong and Tongyeong to Geoje Island on the evangelization journey.

After the Byeongin Persecution began in 1866, Gu Han-seon parted from Father Ridel, returned home and stayed there, until he was arrested by the runners of Jinju and escorted to the Jinju government office. Before the magistrate he underwent various interrogations and punishments but did not abandon the faith, and while imprisoned he wrote an explanation of the principal doctrines and passed it to the magistrate’s wife. According to the brief biography of the Bishops’ Conference, the wife read it and asked the magistrate to release him, and on hearing this the magistrate became even angrier and had him dragged from prison and flogged severely. Even so, he did not utter a single groan.

The brief biography records that when the magistrate asked why he made no sound of suffering, Gu Han-seon answered, “My aged mother must be outside the gate, and if I groan she will hear it and faint, so I did not groan,” and when asked why he believed in Catholicism, he answered, “Because it teaches filial devotion to parents, I believe in Catholicism.” It is said that the officers told the magistrate that they were flogging him properly and that if they beat him more he would die.

After suffering cruel punishment, Gu Han-seon was released and returned home, where he died seven days later from that punishment. The brief biography of the Bishops’ Conference and the detailed GoodNews account give his age at the time as 22 years old (the beginning of the same GoodNews article also gives it as 23 years old). It is handed down that after his martyrdom there was a red mark in the shape of the character pum (品) on his forehead. His body was buried by his family near his hometown (brief biography of the Bishops’ Conference). According to the detailed GoodNews account, the spot was a secluded corner within the graves of the Sin (愼) families at the entrance to Saedae (新垈) Village in Hagi-ri, Daesan-myeon.

The martyr’s grave had long vanished from people’s memory until it became known in 1959 through the efforts of Father Je Chan-gyu, then parish priest of Haman Parish. According to GoodNews and the related shrine notice of the Bishops’ Conference, while searching for the grave based on the record of the Chimyeong Ilgi (Record of Martyrdom), Father Je heard the testimony of Yun Seong-hak Paul, head of the Daesan Catholic mission chapel. Chairman Yun testified that he had heard from Choe Seong-sun, the husband of Gu Han-seon’s wife’s niece, that the martyr’s grave was within the Sin family graves and that he had seen the martyr’s son sodding his father’s grave, and this matched what an elderly man in Hagi-ri, Daesan-myeon, had said: “Within the Sin family graves there is the grave of a man who was released from the Jinju prison and died from the effects of the beating.” After examining the Sin family graves and finding one grave whose mound had almost disappeared, they excavated it and confirmed it to be Gu Han-seon’s grave (GoodNews).

Regretting that it lay within the burial ground of a non-Catholic family, the faithful of Daesan Parish moved the grave in September 1976 to the foot of Gadeungsan in Pyeongnim-ri. Daesan Parish had been raised from a quasi-parish to a parish on May 8, 1976 (GoodNews). Beginning in May 2002, Daesan Parish began a shrine-development project to refurbish this grave anew, and after holding a Mass in honor of the martyr and a blessing of the grave on September 18 of that year, it equipped the site with a parking lot and other auxiliary facilities. Around the grave it installed the 14 Stations of the Cross, erected an outdoor altar and a martyr memorial monument on either side of the grave, and raised a large cross behind it (GoodNews).

Gu Han-seon was beatified by Pope Francis at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on August 16, 2014, together with 123 fellow martyrs. According to GoodNews, about 10 years after the shrine development, a factory was built right in front of the burial ground with more expected nearby, creating noise and access problems for pilgrims, which led to consideration of a relocation. The Masan Diocese held a groundbreaking ceremony for the creation of the shrine while celebrating a thanksgiving Mass for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Daesan Parish on May 7, 2016, and on October 20 carried out the transfer of the grave, enshrining the remains on the altar of the tomb chapel prepared on the 1 floor of Daesan Church. On October 29, the dedication ceremony for the memorial altar of the Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus Shrine was celebrated, presided over by Diocesan Bishop Bae Gi-hyeon. The related shrine notice of the Bishops’ Conference gives the time of the groundbreaking and relocation as ‘2026’, differing from GoodNews’s year notation of 2016.

Architecture and Space

According to GoodNews, the Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus Shrine has a tomb chapel on the 1 floor of Daesan Church, with the martyr’s remains enshrined in the altar. In the spacious yard a ‘Garden of Hope’ has been created, where a memorial altar enshrining a portion of the remains and an information center (Mother’s Rest) have been provided. The shrine was created with a joint fund with its sister diocese, the Diocese of Graz-Seckau in Austria, and was made as a space open also to local residents. The related shrine notice of the Bishops’ Conference introduces with photographs the altar of the Gu Han-seon Thaddeus chapel (tomb chapel) inside Daesan Church and the portrait of the Blessed painted by Byeon Jin.

The former burial ground (the former Tomb of Gu Han-seon Thaddeus) had, centered on the martyr’s grave, the 14 Stations of the Cross, an outdoor altar, a martyr memorial monument, and a large cross. GoodNews introduces this burial ground separately from the shrine at Daesan Church under the heading ‘Former Tomb of Gu Han-seon Thaddeus’ and gives its location as Gadeung Village, Pyeongnim-ri, Daesan-myeon, Haman-gun.

Religious Significance and Visiting Context

GoodNews introduces Gu Han-seon as one of the representative martyrs of the Masan Diocese. His story is summarized as ‘a young martyr who bore witness to the faith to the end despite cruel flogging,’ and the brief biography of the Bishops’ Conference includes the passage in which he answered before the magistrate that he believed in Catholicism because it teaches filial devotion. The Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea introduces this shrine as a shrine related to the 124 Blesseds and lists the administering body as Daesan Shrine Church. The Mass schedule of Daesan Church is the Mass schedule of the shrine (GoodNews).

Related Places and People

• Former Tomb of Gu Han-seon Thaddeus: the burial ground at the foot of Gadeungsan in Pyeongnim-ri, Daesan-myeon, Haman-gun, where the martyr’s grave was located from 1976 until the relocation in 2016.
• Hagi-ri Sin Family Graves: the place where Gu Han-seon’s body was first buried immediately after his martyrdom, and where the grave was identified in 1959.
• Father Ridel: the missionary who took Gu Han-seon as his assistant on the evangelization journey to Geoje Island.
• Father Je Chan-gyu: the priest who, as parish priest of Haman Parish in 1959, led the search for Gu Han-seon’s grave.
• Jinju Government Office and Prison: the place where Gu Han-seon underwent interrogation and punishment.

References and Sources

1. GoodNews Catholic Information, Daesan Church of the Masan Diocese (Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus Shrine). Checked the life, circumstances of the identification of the grave, the relocation in 1976, the shrine development in 2002, the relocation and dedication in 2016, and the shrine facilities.
   https://maria.catholic.or.kr/sa_ho/list/view.asp?ctxtOrgNum=4336&menugubun=holyplace
2. GoodNews Catholic Shrines, Shrine and Historic Site Daesan Church (Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus Shrine). Checked the summary shrine introduction and location.
   https://m.catholic.or.kr/web/holyplace/?seq=4336
3. Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, Brief Biography of the 124 Blesseds: Gu Han-seon Thaddeus. Checked the life, arrest and interrogation, circumstances of martyrdom, and age.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/124-Martyrs/109
4. Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, Related Shrine: Tomb of Blessed Gu Han-seon Thaddeus. Checked the circumstances of the excavation of the grave, the relocation in 1976, the relocation to the tomb chapel at Daesan Church, and the administering body.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Shrines/11