Saenamteo Church

Overview

Saenamteo Church is a parish belonging to Junggu-Yongsan District No. 1 in the Central Seoul Region of the Archdiocese of Seoul, located at the Saenamteo Martyrs' Shrine in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Founded in 1981, its patron is the Queen of Martyrs, and the Blessed Korean Martyrs Clerical Congregation is in charge of the parish and the shrine.

History

〔Establishment〕 According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism, Saenamteo Parish was separated and established from Hangang Parish and Samgakji Parish on August 21, 1981. The founding date in the online directory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea is also 1981.08.21. The parish homepage history states that on September 3, Saenamteo Parish was newly established by division from Hangang Parish (75 households, 300 persons) and that Father Bang Hak-gil (spelled Marcellino in the encyclopedia and Marcello on the homepage) took office as the first pastor. The same homepage records September 3, 2006 as the 25th anniversary of the parish. As the sources differ on the date of separation and establishment and on the notation of the mother parish, both are given.

〔History Before the Transfer of Shrine Management〕 According to the parish homepage history, on February 23, 1950, the Catholic Church in Korea designated this place as a martyrs' shrine and issued a joint pastoral letter on the erection of the Saenamteo Martyrs' Memorial Tower, and the memorial tower was erected in 1956. In 1957, the Blessed Korean Martyrs Clerical Congregation began to manage the shrine and in 1958 founded the Blessed Martyrs Public School (closed in 1969). The encyclopedia states that in 1950 Saenamteo was designated as a martyrdom historic site and on July 8, 1956 the Martyrs' Exaltation Monument was erected, and that the Blessed Clerical Congregation managed the historic site from the following year, purchasing 1,096 pyeong of the present church site in 1967 and opening a kindergarten in 1972 (closed in 1982). The homepage history likewise lists the purchase and management of the shrine site in 1967, the founding of Saenamteo Kindergarten on March 11, 1972, and suspension after the 11th graduation ceremony on December 31, 1982.

〔Construction of the Church〕 According to the encyclopedia, Father Bang Hak-gil celebrated Mass temporarily in the kindergarten immediately after taking office, prepared a prefabricated temporary church on the church site on August 12, 1983, and held the groundbreaking ceremony for the new church on September 6, but faced difficulties because of construction costs. From November 1984 Mass was celebrated in the basement of the church under construction, and 4 years after groundbreaking, on September 12, 1987, a church in traditional Korean style with 1 basement floors and 2 above-ground floors and a total floor area of 1,409 pyeong (main church, small chapel, exhibition hall, monastery) was completed and its blessing ceremony was held. The parish homepage history states that on May 6, 1984 Pope John Paul 2 signed the cornerstone of the church building for the first time in Korea and that construction of the new church began on the same day. In 1987, the enshrinement and blessing of the statue of the patron saint, the Queen of Martyrs, on May 12, the designation as a pilgrimage church with the opening of the Marian Holy Year on June 7, the start of Mass in the main church on the 2 floor on July 3, and the offering of 2,375,849 decades of the Rosary and the church dedication ceremony (Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan) on September 12 followed.

〔Design of the Church〕 The shrine homepage introduces this building as a 3-story tiled-roof building with a Korean-style pointed bell tower, and states that Park Tae-yeon, professor of architecture at Myongji University, designed it and that the Blessed Korean Martyrs Clerical Congregation completed and blessed it in 1987.

〔Relics of the Saints and Martyrs' Devotion〕 According to the encyclopedia, in May 1987 the faithful formed the Exaltation Association of 103 Saints, and on July 14, 1996 a relic veneration room enshrining the relics of the saints martyred at Saenamteo was prepared. In March 1998 the Saenamteo Shrine Management Committee was launched and educational programs to make the martyrdom site known were prepared. The parish history records that on April 4, 1996 the relics of the martyr saints were brought, that construction of the relic veneration room and of the basement retreat room took place on April 11, and that the founding of the parish shrine development and management committee on March 2, 1998, the 1th Martyrs' Exaltation Festival on September 12 of the same year, the designation as a Great Jubilee plenary indulgence church on December 25, 1999, and the dedication ceremony of the small chapel on June 25, 2000 followed. The shrine homepage states that the relics of Saint Andrew Kim Dae-geon, Bishop Saint Imbert, Father Saint Maubant, Father Saint Chastan, Bishop Saint Berneux, Father Saint Bretnier, Father Saint Beaulieu, Father Saint Dori, Saint Alexius U Se-yong and others, 9 in total, are enshrined at present.

〔Since the 2000s〕 According to the history, on September 3, 2006, the anniversary of the 25th year of the parish, the blessing ceremony of the Saenamteo Memorial Hall was held (officiated by Cardinal Jung Jin-suk), and Father Laurentius Choi Hyeon-sik took office as the 6rd pastor on November 10, 2008 and Father Raphael Kim Tae-geon took office as the 7th pastor on November 22, 2012. On August 13, 2009 it was designated as a church and pilgrimage site joined in a special spiritual bond with the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, and the privilege of plenary indulgence was granted. On August 16, 2014 Pope Francis presided over the beatification ceremony of Father Jacobus Ju Mun-mo at Gwanghwamun, and on August 18 there were the unveiling ceremony of the beatification commemorative bust and a thanksgiving Mass.

〔Church Statistics and Successive Pastors〕 The number of the faithful was 575 in 1981, 1,475 in 1988, and 1,377 in 1996. The successive pastors recorded in the encyclopedia are the first, Father Marcellino Bang Hak-gil (1981. 8-1994. 7), the 2th, Father Paulus Kim Yo-seong (1994. 7-1996. 11), and the 3th, Father Moses Lee Hyeon-do (1996. 11-). The homepage history has a record that Father Moses Lee Hyeon-do took office as the first assistant priest on September 1, 1993 and a record that Father John the Apostle Han Won-sik took office as the 5th pastor on November 8, 2004.

〔Martyrdom History of Saenamteo〕 According to the shrine homepage, Saenamteo is a name given because the place was thick with silver grass and trees (Saenamuteo) and it was also called Sanamgi in Chinese characters. In the early Joseon period it was a military training ground and a place where state criminals were executed, and of the 14 clergy martyred during the 4 major persecutions of the Catholic Church in Korea, 11 clergy and 3 lay leaders were martyred here. In the Shinyu Persecution in 1801, the Chinese Father Ju Mun-mo; in the Gihae Persecution in 1839, Bishop Imbert and Fathers Maubant and Chastan; in the Byeongo Persecution in 1846, Father Andrew Kim Dae-geon (on September 16, aged 26) and Carolus Hyeon Seok-mun; in the Byeongin Persecution in 1866, Bishop Berneux and Fathers Bretnier, Beaulieu, Dori, Pourthie and Petitnicolas, Marcus Jeong Ui-bae, Alexius U Se-yong and others were martyred. Of the martyrs, 11 were canonized in 1984.

Jurisdiction and Affiliation

The jurisdiction stated in the Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism is all of Seobu Ichon-dong and parts of Hangang-ro 3-ga and Wonhyo-ro 4-ga. The online directory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea lists the affiliated diocese as the Archdiocese of Seoul, the region and district as Junggu-Yongsan District No. 1 in the Central Seoul Region, the founding date as 1981.08.21, the women's congregation as the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs, and the patron as the Queen of Martyrs.

Related Places and Figures

• Hangang Parish and Samgakji Parish: the mother parishes of Saenamteo Parish as stated in the encyclopedia.
• Saenamteo Martyrs' Shrine: the shrine on the same site, covered in a separate place encyclopedia article.
• Blessed Korean Martyrs Clerical Congregation: the religious congregation in charge of the parish and the shrine.
• Father Bang Hak-gil: the first pastor who led the construction of the church.
• Park Tae-yeon: the professor of architecture at Myongji University whom the shrine homepage names as the designer of the memorial church.
• Saint Andrew Kim Dae-geon, Jacobus Ju Mun-mo and others: figures martyred here.

References and Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism, "Saenamteo Parish". Founded on August 21, 1981, patron Queen of Martyrs, jurisdiction, church statistics, successive priests, shrine management history, church construction (1983-1987) and completion of a church in traditional Korean style, Exaltation Association of 103 Saints, relic veneration room.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/3098
2. Online Directory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, "Saenamteo". Affiliated diocese and district (Junggu-Yongsan District No. 1 in the Central Seoul Region), founding date 1981.08.21, women's congregation, patron.
   https://directory.cbck.or.kr/OnlineAddress/Catholic/DetailInfo.aspx?cgubn=c&char=all&code=201000133&gubn=4&gubn2=all&gyogu=201000011
3. Saenamteo Church, "History". From 1950 to 2014, shrine designation, shrine management, division (on September 3), church construction and dedication, enshrinement of relics, blessing of the memorial hall, appointments of successive pastors and others.
   https://saenamteo.or.kr/?page_id=102
4. Saenamteo Church, "Shrine History". Origin of the name Saenamteo, martyrs and years of martyrdom, church designer and completion, enshrined relics of the saints.
   https://saenamteo.or.kr/?page_id=276
5. Saenamteo Church, "Introduction". Parish jurisdiction and the present state of the church and the martyrs' memorial hall.
   https://saenamteo.or.kr/?page_id=89