About this place
The Shrine of Our Lady of Namyang is a martyr shrine administered by the Diocese of Suwon and the first site officially proclaimed as a Marian shrine by the Catholic Church in Korea. It holds together two complementary identities: it commemorates those who were martyred in the Namyang area during the persecutions, and it is a place of prayer entrusted to Our Lady of the Rosary, especially for peace and the sanctification of families. Rather than exercising territorial responsibility like an ordinary parish, it welcomes pilgrims from across the country to contemplate both the faith of the martyrs and Marian devotion.
A twenty-decade Rosary path winds through the low hills and trails of the shrine, allowing pilgrims to pray while walking from one large stone bead to the next. Other prayer spaces, including the Marian statue and the Hill of Divine Mercy, form part of the pilgrimage landscape. By working with the natural terrain, the shrine invites visitors to slow their pace and unite walking with prayer, linking the memory of the martyrs’ faith with present-day petitions for peace and for families.
History & origins
Namyang was an important local center of administration and justice in the late Joseon period, and during the Byeongin Persecution of 1866 Catholics arrested in the surrounding area were brought there and martyred. Diocesan sources name Philip Kim and Maria Park, Philip Jeong, and Thomas Kim Hong-seo among those whose names survive in records, while emphasizing that the shrine also commemorates the many martyrs who died without their names being preserved.
The site remained primarily a place of martyr memory until systematic development of the shrine began in 1983. Namyang Parish and the diocese worked to preserve the memory of the martyrs and create a setting where pilgrims could pray. The site gradually developed an identity that went beyond historical commemoration by connecting the faith of the martyrs with the prayer of the Rosary.
On October 7, 1991, the martyr site at Namyang was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and officially proclaimed the first Marian shrine of the Catholic Church in Korea. Prayer of the Rosary for peace and for the sanctification of families then became one of its defining devotions. The twenty-decade Rosary path and other prayer spaces were shaped gradually over time, transforming the memory of martyrdom into a pilgrimage that is experienced by walking and praying.
The shrine later expanded into a broader pilgrimage complex with a major church and additional places of prayer. Yet two memories remain at the heart of that development: the refusal to forget the faith of the unnamed martyrs, and the desire to carry that memory into present-day prayer for peace, families, and the Church through the Rosary prayed with Mary.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Namyangseongmo Sanctuary: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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- 한국천주교주교회의 온라인 주소록
Diocese
Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
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