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About this place
Seodun-dong Catholic Church is a parish in the Gwonseon District of the First Vicariate of the Diocese of Suwon, with the Korean Martyr Saints as patrons. It serves Catholics in the area west of Suwon Station through Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and fellowship, while also possessing a clear historical identity rooted in the Church's commemoration of Korean martyrs.
Beside the present church stands the earlier church building from the parish's formative period, allowing different eras of the same place to be seen together. The old church was built to commemorate the beatification of martyrs of the Byeongin Persecution and has been described as a distinctive combination of Korean traditional architectural elements and modern Catholic church design.
Seodun-dong is therefore both an ordinary territorial parish and a place where the Diocese of Suwon preserved the memory of Korean martyr faith in built form. The roots of a mission-station community, the memorial church for the beatified martyrs, and the later growth of the parish overlap in one setting, making it especially meaningful for understanding both local Church history and present Catholic life in Suwon. The ability to see the old memorial church and the present parish church together is one of Seodun-dong’s clearest spatial characteristics. Visitors can encounter the functioning parish of today while directly recognizing in built form the earlier community’s intention to honor the martyrs.
History & origins
The prehistory of Seodun-dong Parish reaches back to the Norim mission station, begun around 1921 in the Homaesil area under Wangnim Parish. The small Catholic community grew sufficiently to give rise to additional mission stations as new baptisms increased. In the mid-1960s there was a plan to establish a new parish in Gosaek-dong, but the diocese changed direction and decided instead to build in Seodun-dong a memorial church for martyrs of the Byeongin Persecution.
Seodun-dong Parish was established in 1968, the year twenty-four martyrs of the Byeongin Persecution were beatified. A memorial church was constructed on land prepared by the diocese through support from the Holy See and contributions from local Catholics, and it was completed on September 16, 1969. Designed by architect Yun Jang-seop, the old church expressed the memory of martyr faith through a distinctive combination of an octagonal plan, red brick, and a bell tower recalling a Korean pavilion.
As Suwon expanded, the parish also grew. In 1990 a new church was provided for the increased number of parishioners, but the original memorial church was preserved beside it as a witness to the parish's beginnings. During the 1990s, diocesan youth ministry activities were for a time based there, while population growth also led to the separation of new parishes such as Chilbo, Seoho, Sangchon, and Dangsu.
The history of Seodun-dong therefore moves from a mission-station community to a memorial parish dedicated to the martyrs, and then through urban growth to a larger church and several daughter parishes. Because the old church still stands beside the present one, this development is not only recorded in texts; visitors can encounter the early memorial building and the later parish community in the same place. The purpose of founding the parish as a beatification memorial and the preservation of the old church distinguish Seodun-dong from many other urban parishes. Even as a larger church was provided in response to city growth, the first memorial church remained, allowing parish expansion and the commemoration of martyrs to continue side by side on the same site.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Seodun-dong Church: 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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Diocese
Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
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