SEOSAN (UCAN): Officials in Seosan, South Korea, joined Church leaders in celebrating the Vatican’s recognition of the Haemi Catholic Martyrs’ shrine as an international pilgrimage site.
Political leaders, civil officials and Church leaders attended the programme in mid-December at the shrine in South Chungcheong province, about 280 kilometres south of the capital Seoul, the Catholic Times reported.
During the programme, Auxiliary Bishop Augustinus Jong-soo Kim of Daejeon handed over the decree from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation to the shrine’s rector, Father Han Gwang-seok.
The Vatican recognised the Haemi shrine as one of about 30 international pilgrimage sites on 1 March 2021. It is the second Korean site to be acknowledged.
The shrine commemorates the martyrdom of about 2,000 mostly unnamed Korean Catholics during early days of Catholicism in Korea. Thousands of Catholics were imprisoned, tortured and massacred when the Joseon Dynasty unleashed brutal persecution against Christians in the 19th century.
A 16-metre memorial tower was erected to honour hundreds of unknown martyrs. The Church was able to record the baptismal names of only 132 people, who embraced martyrdom at Haemi.
In his speech during the ceremony, Bishop Kim said that people need to learn the history of Christian martyrdom during the Joseon Dynasty to understand the history of religion, faith and social realities of the age.
“We need to be very clear about the history of martyrdom in the late Joseon Dynasty period to realise that nobles and slaves lived as families and created a new social order with inspiration from religion and faith,” Bishop Kim said.
The bishop added that the pilgrimage route will be developed and preserved. “I hope it will become a place where people can find spiritual solace apart from being overburdened with material abundance,” Bishop Kim said.
Maeng Jeong Ho, the mayor of Seosan, assured administrative assistance in the development of a pilgrimage route alongside the Haemi-san Temple, a popular Buddhist site.
Christianity arrived in Korea in the late 16th century, during the Japanese invasion, Church records say.
There are about 5.6 million Catholics in three archdioceses, 14 dioceses, and a military ordinariate.
