Youngbo Retreat Center

History & origins

In 1973, the Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary acquired a substantial property in Muk-ri, Idong-myeon, Yongin, and completed a novitiate there in 1975. This established a base in Yongin for religious formation and prayer alongside the congregation's motherhouse in Gwacheon.

According to the congregation's history, a house of prayer and a retreat house were completed on the Yongin property on December 9, 1991. The present Yeongbo Retreat House, whose location is confirmed in the current Catholic directory, continues this documented development and shows how the congregation's retreat and prayer apostolate took institutional form in Yongin.

In the early 2000s, the Catholic Times introduced Yeongbo Retreat House as a place particularly suitable for small groups and family retreats. Its history can thus be understood as a development from a site initially used for religious formation into a place where lay Catholics and small communities could remain together in prayer and retreat.

In chronological order, the Yongin site developed through the acquisition of land, the construction of a novitiate, and the completion of houses for prayer and retreat. This sequence shows the role of the site widening from facilities needed for the internal formation of religious to a place that also received retreatants from outside the community. Its continued listing as a distinct retreat facility in the Catholic directory indicates that the function established in the 1990s became an enduring apostolate rather than a temporary project.