Lazarus' House (St. Lazarus Education Center)

About this place

Lazarus House (St. Lazarus Student Education Center) is a retreat and prayer facility of the Diocese of Suwon located within St. Lazarus Village in Uiwang. The Catholic Church Directory in Korea classifies it as a “retreat/prayer house” and identifies the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters as the religious institute responsible for it. It is therefore best understood not as an ordinary parish church, but as a Church facility intended for education, retreats, and prayer.

St. Lazarus Village, where the facility stands, is a long-established field of Catholic social ministry in Korea that began for the treatment and self-reliance of people affected by Hansen’s disease. The history of Lazarus House itself must be distinguished from the history of the village as a whole, but its present context is shaped by its location within the same setting, where religious service, faith formation, and spiritual care continue. Visitors can best understand it first as a retreat and educational space situated within the social-ministry tradition of St. Lazarus Village.

It is also significant that the Catholic Church Directory in Korea lists this place separately as a retreat and prayer house rather than as an independent parish or an ordinary religious community. For those visiting St. Lazarus Village, Lazarus House is therefore not simply a facility that presents the village's medical and welfare history; it is a place of faith that continues education, prayer, and spiritual care within that field of social ministry.