Yodangri Shrine

Overview

The Yodang-ri Shrine is a shrine belonging to the Diocese of Suwon, located in Yodang-ri, Yanggam-myeon, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. Among Korea’s 103 martyr saints, it is the birthplace of Saint Joseph Jang Ju-gi, the only canonized saint from Yanggan in Suwon (present-day Neujiji in Yodang-ri, Yanggam-myeon, Hwaseong-si), and the home ground of a faith community. Although it is not a martyrdom site of saints or blesseds, a Catholic village formed around the time of the Shinyu Persecution (1801), and the village produced several martyrs, including Ju-gi, Thomas Jang, and Thaddeus Ji. After the Diocese of Suwon dispatched a resident priest in 2006, the site began to be developed as a shrine, and the dedication ceremony for its church was held on May 11, 2010.

History

According to the official homepage of the Yodang-ri Shrine, it is not known exactly when the Gospel was first proclaimed in Yodang-ri, but the site is believed to have formed as a Catholic village as believers from Seoul and the Naepo region of Chungcheong-do migrated to escape persecution around the time of the Shinyu Persecution (1801). This Catholic village was called the Yanggan Catholic mission chapel and maintained close ties with Gatdeungi (present-day Wangnim) and the Euni Catholic mission chapel (present-day Yangji), carrying out exchanges of faith and missionary activity. Because seawater flowed in and opened a water route, Yodang-ri is regarded as having served as a bridgehead on the mission route linking Chungcheong-do, inland Gyeonggi-do, and Seoul. The Catholic Times article published on March 11, 2025 explains that Yodang-ri (蓼塘里) is a natural place name derived from the many ponds (塘) with water pepper (蓼) found throughout the village, which seawater still reached until the late Joseon period.

According to the shrine homepage’s history section, the Yanggan area was a broad living sphere belonging to Suwon town in the late Joseon period, comprising several villages formed together, including Sayang-ri, Pogok, Seokcheon, Maneoeon-ri, Manchon, Yodang-ri, Yongso-ri, and Gidong. Although the official founding date and exact location of the Yanggan mission chapel are not clearly recorded in the documents, testimonies and historical sources together suggest that it was very likely already functioning as a mission chapel around the 1830s. At that time a mission chapel was not a building-centered place but a fluid community centered on believers’ homes and hiding places. When the Wangnim parish was established in 1888, the Yanggan mission chapel was incorporated under its jurisdiction, making regular celebration of the sacraments and pastoral care of believers possible, and after liberation it was transferred to the Balan parish.

The shrine homepage introduces Yodang-ri as a place of practice where believers took responsibility for operating the mission chapel and supporting church finances. Before the Gihae Persecution, Bishop Imbert set aside church fields in Yanggan and had Min Geuk-ga (Stephen, 1787–1840) cultivate and manage them, while Jeong Hwa-gyeong (Andrew, 1808–1840) offered his own house as a mission chapel and served as its president. When the Gihae Persecution (1839) broke out, Bishop Imbert (Laurent, 1796–1839) fled to the Sangge (Sanggol, Simgwae, Sanggu) area of Yanggan with the help of Jeong Hwa-gyeong and his brother-in-law Son Gyeong-seo (Andrew, 1799–1839). However, after Jeong Hwa-gyeong was deceived by Judas Kim Sun-seong and the hiding place was exposed, the bishop came out of Sangge and surrendered himself, was transferred to Seoul, and was martyred on September 21, 1839 at Saenamteo by beheading with military display, together with Fathers Maubant and Chastan. Repentant of this, Jeong Hwa-gyeong was arrested on January 23, 1840 and martyred by hanging in the Pocheong prison.

Min Geuk-ga came from a yangban family in Hambak Village, Incheon; he taught catechism to Catholic children in Gatdeungi (Wangnim), Suwon, managed the church fields in Yanggan (Sangge) entrusted by Bishop Imbert, and traveled frequently to Euni in Yangji to evangelize before being martyred by hanging at the Pocheong in Hanyang on January 30, 1840. To make doctrine easier to share, he composed the Catholic song “Samse-daeui (三世大義)” in 4 and 4 verses. The shrine homepage states that even after the Byeongin Persecution (1866), martyrs from Yodang-ri included Jang Ju-gi (Joseph, 1803–1866), Thomas Jang (1815–1866), Thaddeus Ji (1819–1869), Peter Rim, Peter Jo Myeong-o, and Charles Hong Won-yeo.

According to the shrine homepage, Saint Joseph Jang Ju-gi was born in 1803 in Neujigae, Suwon (present-day Yodang-ri, Yanggam-myeon, Hwaseong-si) or in Daman, Suwon (present-day Gwanhang-ri, Jeongnam-myeon, Hwaseong-si). His family was a reasonably well-off middle stratum; he farmed and studied Chinese classics for some time, and was called “Jang Nakso” among believers. After learning catechism from his relative Barbara Kim and falling gravely ill at age 26, he received emergency baptism from Choe Yong-nyeon in Yangji and later received confirmation from Father Yu Bang-je (Yeo Hang-deok). Outstanding in devotion and zeal, he was appointed president and devoted himself to the office until his martyrdom. Moving from place to place to escape persecution, he settled in Baeron, Jecheon (the same introduction gives the settlement year differently as 1843 and 1845), and when Father Mestre founded Saint Joseph Seminary in Baeron in 1855, he offered his own house and cared for the seminarians. After Father Pourthie was appointed principal, he supported the operation of the seminary as its host, serving as Chinese teacher and as landlord for the missionaries. In the persecution of 1866, when runners raided the Baeron seminary on March 2 and arrested Fathers Pourthie and Petitnicolas, he was seized with them and then released, but was caught again, taken through the Jecheon government office to Seoul, and beheaded on March 30, 1866 at Goma Suyeong (Galmaemot) in Boryeong, Chungcheong-do, together with Bishop Daveluy and 4 others.

Thomas Jang, a 6th cousin brother of Ju-gi, was born in Neujiji, Yanggan, but moved through many places for the life of faith before settling in Baeti, Jincheon, Chungcheong-do, where he earned a living and taught catechism to his son, and neighbors and relatives called him a “good man.” In 1866 he was arrested by runners from Cheongju and taken to the Jincheon government office; at the poles in the Cheongju military camp he admonished his godson who was about to apostatize, urging him toward martyrdom, and was beheaded at age 51. Thaddeus Ji, from Yongsomal, Yanggan (present-day Yongso-ri, Yanggam-myeon, Hwaseong-si), moved to Ingwang-ri in the Anjung mission chapel (present-day Ingwang-ri, Hyeondeok-myeon, Pyeongtaek-si) to live the faith; arrested in 1866, he apostatized once and was released, but regretting it, he resolved to be martyred, was imprisoned in the Jinwi jail in 1869, refused to apostatize, was transferred to Suwon, and was publicly executed on May 23, 1869 outside the North Gate of Hwaseong. The shrine homepage reports that Peter Jo Myeong-o and Charles Hong Won-yeo were from Yanggan and were martyred at the U Pocheong in Seoul, though traditions differ on the martyrdom year, such as in April 1871 and in March 1872.

For a long time, the significance of the Yodang-ri Shrine was not sufficiently illuminated. According to the shrine homepage, Bishop Choi Deok-gi (Paul), who lamented this, dispatched a resident priest on September 26, 2006 and officially expressed his will to re-establish and develop it as a shrine.

The chronology on the shrine homepage is as follows. On February 8, 2006 the diocese expressed its will to develop the shrine, and in April it purchased 20,486 square meters (6,179 pyeong) of fields and forest land in 10 lots, including lot 191-1 in Yodang-ri, Yanggam-myeon, Hwaseong-si, at 60 million won per pyeong for 37 billion won. On September 26 Father Kim Dae-young (Peter) took office as the first resident priest for the shrine, on October 4 the shrine purchased 1 container units and celebrated the first Mass (about 10 attendees), and on December 7 obtained a building permit. After erecting a tent church on December 24, the Christmas Eve Mass was celebrated with about 700 attendees. On December 29 the shrine bulletin was first published. On March 30, 2007 the 1 commemorative Mass for the martyrdom anniversary of Saint Joseph Jang Ju-gi was celebrated with Bishop Lee Yong-hun officiating, and on September 18 the 1 Yodang-ri Shrine Martyrs Exaltation Assembly and Hwaseong District Faith Assembly were held. In December of the same year Dongwon Architecture Office was announced as the winner of the design competition. On March 30, 2008 the 2 commemorative Mass and the groundbreaking ceremony for the church were held, in June Hyunmin Construction Co. was selected as the builder, and from July through May 2009 the main church and annex buildings were constructed. On June 4, 2009 the entrance Mass for the main church (officiated by Father Jo Won-gyu, head of the Pyeongtaek vicariate) was celebrated, in August the completion approval was obtained, and on May 11, 2010 the dedication ceremony for the church was held with Diocesan Bishop Matthias Lee Yong-hun officiating.

Architecture and Space

According to a 2025 article in the Catholic Times, the shrine’s main church is a red-brick building, and in front of the church stands a sculpture of hands dedicating the church toward heaven, commemorating those who supported its construction. To the right of the church entrance stands a bust erected to honor the virtue of Ju-gi, who gave his house as a study space for seminarians. On the church doors are metal ornaments made by dividing the names of Korea’s 103 martyr saints into consonants and vowels. The stained-glass pattern appears as growing grain, which the article suggests may be because this was where fields were operated to secure finances for the early Church. On the altar side, a tabernacle engraved with a cross and the 103 martyr saints on brick is enshrined, and the cross has no crossbar, expressing the wish to leave that share to pilgrims so they may bear the weight of the cross together. The Stations of the Cross on the church walls are the work of Sister Lee Suk-ja (Cecilia, Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, Seoul Province). Behind the church is a cry room.

The Stations of the Cross in the small chapel on the 2 floor of the building to the right of the church were made by sculptor Lee Hyo-ju (Anastasia) from charred wood from the Jungnim-dong Yakhyeon Church of the Archdiocese of Seoul, which suffered a fire in 1998. The outdoor Stations of the Cross and Rosary Path surround in the shape of the Korean letter digeut the prayer plaza of lawn, and maple trees are planted on both sides of the 2–3 m-wide path. The jar-shaped 5-decade rosary beads erected along the Rosary Path symbolize that this was the living ground of believers. On the steps in the middle of the prayer plaza stands a statue of the Madonna and Child, and beyond it are a large cross, an outdoor altar, and the symbolic tombs of seven saints, blesseds, and Servants of God.

Religious Meaning and Visiting Context

The shrine homepage introduces Yodang-ri as a refuge during the persecution era and a final place of faith, explaining that countless believers kept their faith here and were martyred through the Gihae Persecution (1839) and the Byeongin Persecution (1866). The Catholic Times explains that although the Yodang-ri Shrine is not a martyrdom site of saints or blesseds, it is a place imbued with the spirit of faith ancestors such as Saint Jang Ju-gi, Saint Min Geuk-ga, and Bishop Saint Laurent Imbert, as a Catholic village formed with the Shinyu Persecution as its starting point.

Related Places and Figures

• Saint Joseph Jang Ju-gi (1803–1866): a 103 martyr saint from Yodang-ri.
• Thomas Jang (1815–1866): a 6th cousin brother of Ju-gi, a martyr beheaded in Cheongju in 1866.
• Thaddeus Ji (1819–1869): a lay witness from Yongsomal, Yanggan, executed outside the North Gate of Hwaseong in 1869.
• Saint Stephen Min Geuk-ga (1787–1840): a lay martyr who managed the church fields in Yanggan.
• Saint Andrew Jeong Hwa-gyeong (1808–1840): a lay martyr who served as mission-chapel president in Yanggan.
• Saint Bishop Laurent Imbert (1796–1839): the 2 Vicar Apostolic of Joseon, who hid in Sangge, Yanggan before being arrested.
• Wangnim Church (Gatdeungi): the parish established in 1888 that had jurisdiction over the Yanggan mission chapel.
• Baeron Shrine and Galmaemot Shrine: respectively, where Ju-gi settled and assisted the seminary, and where he was martyred.

References and Sources

1. Official homepage of the Yodang-ri Shrine, introduction and chronology of the Yodang-ri Shrine. Formation of the Catholic village, shrine development chronology in 2006–2010 (land purchase, appointment of resident priest, groundbreaking, entrance, and dedication of church).
   http://www.yodangshrine.kr/about/yodang_about
2. Official homepage of the Yodang-ri Shrine, shrine history 1–4. Development of the Yanggan area and mission chapel, jurisdiction under Wangnim Parish in 1888, saints and martyrs connected with Yanggan.
   http://www.yodangshrine.kr/about/history/history_01/
3. Official homepage of the Yodang-ri Shrine, introduction to saints and martyrs (Joseph Jang Ju-gi). Life and martyrdom of Ju-gi, including pages introducing Min Geuk-ga, Imbert, Jeong Hwa-gyeong, Thomas Jang, Thaddeus Ji, and others.
   http://www.yodangshrine.kr/about/saints/jang-jugi-joseph/
4. Catholic Times, [Suwon Diocese Church Pilgrimage] Yodang-ri Shrine Church (2025-03-11). Origin of place name, composition of main church, small chapel, and prayer plaza, and artworks.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/20250307500100