당고개 순교성지(준) 성당

History & origins

Near the end of the Gihae Persecution in 1839, ten Catholics who were to be executed outside Seosomun were taken instead to Danggogae because of conditions around the market before the Lunar New Year, and they were martyred there. Official shrine materials state that nine of the ten were later canonized and that Maria Yi Seong-rye was beatified.

This martyrdom is the historical core of the present shrine. The site has been developed as a place that preserves the martyrs' witness, including a Way of the Cross centered on Blessed Maria Yi and a pilgrimage route through the shrine. The current Catholic directory also records a quasi-parish community established here on February 10, 2012.