Songgol Sanctuary

History & origins

The exact date when the Catholic village at Songol was formed is not known, and responsible church-historical sources do not assign it a definite beginning. One of the earliest clear documentary references is a letter written from Songol by Fr. Antoine Daveluy to his parents in 1853. The village, inhabited by Catholics seeking safety from persecution, was close enough to Seoul for ecclesial contact while still secluded enough to offer missionaries a place of refuge.

From 1857 until the Byeongin Persecution of 1866, several missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society stayed at Songol to learn the Korean language and customs and prepare for pastoral ministry. Fr. Pierre Aumaître later ministered in nearby regions after his period of adaptation there. Fr. Pierre-Henri Dorie arrived in 1865, lived and studied at Songol, and was arrested there on February 27, 1866 before being martyred at Saenamteo in Seoul. His letters and related records describe a community of several dozen Catholics living in poverty, many of them supporting themselves through tobacco farming.

The memory of the community continued after the persecutions. When Hauhyeon Parish was established around 1900, Songol was incorporated as one of its mission stations and forty-seven Catholics were recorded there. The site was later developed to commemorate the martyrs and missionaries, and a new church was dedicated in 2016 for the fiftieth anniversary of the shrine. Thus the history preserved at Songol includes not only clerical martyrdom but also the lay believers who sheltered missionaries, taught them language and customs, and sustained the faith through persecution.