Suyeongjang Martyr Shrine

Overview

Suyeong Jangdae Martyrs' Shrine (Suyeong Jangdaegol Martyrs' Shrine) is a martyrs' shrine of the Busan Diocese in Gwangan-dong, Suyeong-gu, Busan Metropolitan City. It stands on the former site of the command platform (將臺) of the Gyeongsang Left Naval Station in the late Joseon period, and is the place where, during the Mujin Persecution of 1868 that followed the Byeongin Persecution, 8 Catholics including John Yi Jeong-sik, chief catechist of Dongnae, were martyred by beheading under military law with exposure of the head. Among them, John Yi Jeong-sik and Martin Yang Jae-hyeon were beatified as Blesseds on August 16, 2014 at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. The shrine is administered by the neighboring Gwangan Church.

History

The Busan History and Culture Encyclopedia explains that a jangdae was a stone-built platform from which a commander directed troops, placed in front of the drill ground of a Joseon-period military camp and sometimes used as an execution ground for grave criminals. According to the Good News guide to shrines, at the time of the Byeongin Persecution the Gyeongsang Left Naval Station was at Gwangan-dong, and captured Catholics brought there were executed at this place, with the heads of the executed faithful hung on the platform in order to instill vigilance and hatred of Catholicism in the people.

According to the Good News guide, the martyrs are understood to be 8 persons in all: John Yi Jeong-sik (李廷植, 1795–1868) with his son Francis Yi Wol-ju, his wife Maria Pak Jo-i, his nephew Peter Yi Sam-geun and other family members, 4 persons in one family, together with James Yi Gwan-bok, Francis Cha Jang-deuk, Barbara Ok Jo-i, and Yi Jeong-sik's godson Martin Yang Jae-hyeon (梁在鉉, 1827–1868). The same guide notes that the family relationships of Yi Sam-geun and Yi Gwan-bok and the linkage of names and baptismal names differ among the short biographies compiled by the Bishops' Conference and the guides to the Suyeong Jangdae and Oryundae martyrs' shrines.

John Yi Jeong-sik was born in Dongnae in Busan, passed the military examination in his youth and served in several posts including drill instructor, and according to the Good News guide learned doctrine and entered the Church at age 59 (the Account of the Byeongin Martyrs cited by the Bishops' Conference records that he entered at age 60). After entering the Church he resigned his military office, sent away his concubine, and devoted himself to bringing his family and neighbors into the Church, becoming chief catechist of Dongnae. When the Byeongin Persecution of 1866 broke out, he fled with his family to Gijang and Gyeongju and then in spring 1868 to Subakgol in Ulsan, but in Ulsan his family was arrested with other faithful and transferred under guard to Dongnae. In the Dongnae prison he met his godson Martin Yang Jae-hyeon, who had been arrested earlier, and they resolved together to keep the faith firmly. The magistrate of Dongnae kept them in prison for 47 days, interrogating and punishing them many times, but when they would not reveal the whereabouts of other faithful he handed them over to Gu Ju-won (具冑元), commander of the Gyeongsang Left Naval Station, to be put to death. On the day after their transfer to Suyeong, Gu Ju-won inflicted severe torture one last time and forced them to apostatize, and three persons apostatized and were released, but John Yi Jeong-sik and his son and daughter-in-law and others, 8 persons in all, kept the faith to the end and were martyred by decapitation in September 1868 (Good News writes it as 'changsu-hyeong'). Before the execution they prayed the Angelus and made the Sign of the Cross. The Account of the Byeongin Martyrs cited in Bishops' Conference materials records that Yang Jae-hyeon (Yang the naval commander) was arrested on the evening of February 16, 1868, and gives the day of execution as lunar August 19 (solar September 27) at 9 in the morning.

The Good News guide explains that the bodies of 4 members of Yi Jeong-sik's family were recovered by relatives and buried on the hill behind the Busan Carmelite Convent (San 96 in Myeongjang-dong, Dongnae-gu), then moved on September 19, 1977 for burial on the hill behind the Oryundae Martyrs Memorial Hall (now the Oryundae Korean Martyrs Museum), while the bodies of the remaining 4 persons could not be found and only a memorial monument was erected. The record of those martyred at Suyeong Jangdae is supported by the Ilseongnok, the testimony of two eyewitnesses on August 20, 1951, and 8 platform stones, roof-tile fragments, coins and other objects excavated at the site on July 17, 1977 by the pastor of Gwangan Parish.

According to the Busan History and Culture Encyclopedia, the site was identified as a martyrdom site when Father Peter An Dal-won of Gwangan Church and young members excavated 8 platform stones and tile fragments on July 17, 1977, but already from the 1950s local faithful knew it as the old Jangdaegol martyrdom site and held rites honoring the martyrs on martyr feast days. In January 1987 the issue of developing Suyeong Jangdaegol as a sacred place was raised in the Busan Diocese and development began in earnest, and from June 1987 the faithful of Gwangan Church offered donations to purchase part of the old martyrdom site. The Good News guide writes that the land then secured was about 160 pyeong, while Bishops' Conference materials write 161 pyeong. In July 1988 the Busan Diocesan Committee for the Promotion of the Martyrs began work on a martyrs' monument and landscaping, and according to the Good News guide Bishop Yi Gap-su presided over the unveiling of the monument and a memorial Mass on September 30 of that year. On July 5, 2004 a large cross and 14 Stations of the Cross were installed and memorial tablets for 8 persons including Yi Jeong-sik were enshrined, followed by a blessing of the new religious articles presided over by Diocesan Bishop Jeong Myeong-jo. In 2005 the Jangdaegol Shrine Development Support Association was launched with the approval of the diocesan bishop. Meanwhile the Gwangan Church entry in the same encyclopedia writes in its chronology 'preparation of the Suyeong Jangdaegol Martyrs' Shrine in 1986,' differing in year.

Architecture and Grounds

According to the Busan History and Culture Encyclopedia, the Suyeong Jangdaegol Martyrs' Shrine is at Gwangan 4-dong, lot 546-4, Suyeong-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, and on grounds of about 530 square meters stand a memorial stele, a large cross, the memorial tablets of the 8 persons martyred here, and a marker stone from the platform that stood on the site at the time of the martyrdom. There are also Stations of the Cross articles and a statue of the Virgin Mary. The photo caption in Bishops' Conference materials introduces the martyrs' memorial stele in the shrine grounds.

Religious Meaning and Visiting Context

The Busan History and Culture Encyclopedia explains that this is a place where the form of the Joseon-period Gyeongsang Left Naval Station and the persecution of Catholicism in the Dongnae area can be learned. Gwangan Church, neighboring the martyrdom site, was designated a martyr church in 1968 when each diocese established martyr parishes, and the same encyclopedia records that it had led evangelization in the area as the Suyeong Catholic mission chapel since 1917. Gwangan Church was founded as the Suyeong Catholic mission chapel on June 2, 1955, raised to Suyeong Church on December 20, 1956, and renamed Gwangan Church on July 2, 1964.

Related Places and Persons

• Gwangan Church: the nearby parish that administers the shrine, founded as the Suyeong Catholic mission chapel in 1955.
• Oryundae Martyrs' Shrine: the shrine in Geumjeong-gu, Busan, to which the graves of 4 members of Yi Jeong-sik's family were moved in 1977 for reburial.
• Blessed John Yi Jeong-sik (1795–1868): chief catechist of Dongnae, beatified in 2014.
• Blessed Martin Yang Jae-hyeon (1827–1868): godson of Yi Jeong-sik, beatified in 2014.
• Francis Yi Wol-ju, Maria Pak Jo-i, Peter Yi Sam-geun, James Yi Gwan-bok, Francis Cha Jang-deuk, Barbara Ok Jo-i: the companions martyred together.

References and Sources

1. Busan History and Culture Encyclopedia, Suyeong Jangdaegol Martyrs' Shrine. Confirmed the meaning of jangdae, the 8 martyrs, the excavation and development process of 1977, and the shrine facilities.
   https://www.grandculture.net/busan/toc/GC04202414
2. Good News of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, Shrines and Historic Sites, Busan Diocese, Suyeong Jangdae Martyrs' Shrine. Confirmed the list and circumstances of the martyrs, the burial of the bodies, and the chronology of development.
   https://maria.catholic.or.kr/sa_ho/list/view.asp?ctxtOrgNum=2336&menugubun=holyplace
3. Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, Related Shrine Suyeong Jangdae. Confirmed the martyrdom of John Yi Jeong-sik and Martin Yang Jae-hyeon and the Account of the Byeongin Martyrs record, and the history of the shrine's development.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Shrines/7?page=5
4. Busan History and Culture Encyclopedia, Gwangan Church. Confirmed the history of Gwangan Church and its relationship to the Suyeong Jangdaegol Martyrs' Shrine.
   https://www.grandculture.net/busan/toc/GC04210722