Danggogae Martyrs' Shrine in Seoul and the First Korean Saint in the Philippines

Although Catholics in South Korea represent 11% of the total population, you can still feel their devotion almost everywhere. I once noticed a Korean woman praying the holy rosary while riding the Seoul subway. On her right hand was a bracelet rosary that she was turning around her fingers as she prayed. Also, right in the middle of Myeongdong, the most famous shopping spot in all of Korea, stands the center of the Roman Catholic faith in Korea, the Myeongdong Cathedral.

But what’s impressive about the Catholic Church in Korea is that they encourage pilgrimages to Catholic pilgrim sites scattered all over the country. The Korea Tourism Organization even helps in this campaign by providing online pages for these sites and publishing tourist brochures just for these religious places which also have their own websites that provide information to visitors.

And in the middle of the Yongsan District in Seoul, there’s a small and quiet hill surrounded by tall apartment buildings. This hill is the Danggogae Martyrs’ Shrine, where, on December 27 and 28, 1839, ten Korean Catholics were martyred. On those two dark winter days, they gave up their lives for their faith. Of the ten, nine are now saints, while the last one, Blessed Mary Yi Seong-rye was beatified. She was the mother of Father Thomas Choe Yang-up, the second ever Korean priest.  Father Thomas’ father, who was executed with his wife, is also a saint with the name Saint Francis Choe Kyeong-hwan.

In 1839, when Father Thomas’ mother was about to be executed, her children asked the executioner that in order for her “to go to heaven without suffering long, he must cut their mother’s head with one stroke”.  One can just imagine the pain, the trauma and the suffering her own children had to go through by watching their parents’ public execution. Their mother was just 39 years old.

Father Thomas was not in Korea when she was executed. He was studying in Macau, then a Portuguese colony at that time. But due to subsequent disturbances in Macau, Father Thomas left for Manila. Learning about the story of the second ever Korean priest setting foot in the Philippines in 1839 was a surprise for me. He must have sought refuge and continued his religious studies in the Philippines, being the only Catholic country in the Far East.

But in 1861, when Father Thomas was already in Korea, Catholic persecution was widespread.  Unfortunately, that year, he succumbed to typhoid fever. On his deathbed, he received the Last Sacraments and could barely speak. But the last words he uttered were the holy names of Jesus and Mary. He was only 40.

The execution of the Korean Catholics, not only on this hill but on different parts of the Korean peninsula, is a testament to the faith of the Catholics in the country since Christianity arrived here through Christian literature written in Chinese in the early 17^th century. And from the late 17^th century until 1866, more than ten thousand Korean Catholics, including the ten martyrs of Danggogae Shrine, were executed. On May 6, 1984, in the first ever canonization ceremony outside the Vatican, 103 Korean martyrs were declared saints by Pope John Paul II.

One of those canonized by Pope John Paul II was Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, Korea’s first-ever Catholic priest. He was baptized at 15 and also studied in Macau and in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines, where a church is now dedicated to him. Yes, there is a church in the Philippines dedicated to a Korean saint!  He was ordained in 1844, but in 1846, Saint Andrew Kim Taegon was tortured and beheaded near the Han River in Seoul. He was just 25.

This is why the Danggogae Shrine is special to the Catholics in Korea. It is a witness to the birth of Christianity in Korea and to the devotion and faith of Koreans to God. Until today, it gives inspiration to all pilgrims, local and international. That is why it is part of the Catholic pilgrimage in Korea. Though the shrine is surrounded by tall apartment buildings, it is serene and quiet. It has a chapel and a museum, and on the garden above, there is a Way of the Cross which gathers the faithful during Holy Week.

The Danggogae Shrine is also called a Mother’s Shrine because three of the six women who were martyred on this spot were mothers who had very young children. Blessed Mary Yi Seong-rye had a one-year old baby from whom she was separated when she was captured. She was beatified by Pope Francis during a beatification mass in Seoul, Korea, which I attended on August 16, 2014.

So, if you're a Catholic and want to do a pilgrimage in Seoul, do include the Danggogae Martyrs' Shrine, it's one shrine where faith has been professed and ordinary Christian followers became saints and martyrs for their ultimate sacrifice.

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