Trees along the main avenues of downtown Seoul are ablaze with brilliant Christmas lights. Giant Christmas trees set up near department stores entice shoppers and miniature Santa villages delight children of all ages.

But the busiest people around this time of the year would be the Christian churches. It is joyous time for Korean Christians who celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and share their love with the less fortunate.

The red kettles fill up with people’s good will and the hearts of our needy neighbors with hope. Ahead of the greatest Christian holiday on December 25th, let’s visit the Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine to reflect on the two-century history of Korean Catholicism.

The Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine is located just 10 minutes from Hapjeong Station of subway lines 2 and six. This is where the remains of 27 Korean saints and one unknown martyr are kept. Originally called Jamdu-bong or Yongdu-bong, the Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine is manned by volunteers. Here’s Mr. Hong Won-ki, one of the volunteer guides.

Jeoldu-san was originally called Jamdu-bong, because the peak was shaped like the head of a silkworm, or Yongdu-bong for looking like a dragon head. Then it was changed to Yanghwajin, because on the riverside was a ferry port with beautiful weeping willow trees. “Yang” means weeping willows, “hwa” means flower, and “jin” means a “ferry.”

The beautiful scenery drew many poets and musicians, as well as tourists. It was also a popular spot for entertaining Chinese envoys on a boat during the Joseon era. Noted Joseon scholar Kang Hui-maeng described Jamdu-bong thus.

(With echo) Its green mountains and blue waters make it the most scenic in the nation. There is a hill in the southern part of the lake, which looks like the head of a turtle. It is also called “jamdu.”

It was in 1866 when such a scenic and peaceful landscape turned bloody.

A French priest fled to China to escape persecution in 1866 and met a French admiral. When the priest told him about the killing of French missionaries in Joseon in 1839 and 1866, the admiral mobilized the French naval ships and invaded Joseon. In its wake, Sir Daewon, King Gojong’s father, declared that foreigners’ blood should purify Yanghwajin defiled by “western barbarians” and Catholics, and moved the execution site from Seosomun to Yanghwajin. That’s how the once beautiful riverside turned into Jeoldu-san or “Beheading Mountain.”

Prince Daewon’s persecution of the Catholic Church in Joseon led to the killing of roughly 2,000 Korean Catholics at this site in 1866. But only 29 of the martyrs were identified. The mass execution in 1866 is now called “Byeongin Persecution.” But even before 1866 Joseon’s ruling class stepped down on the believers of this western faith. Starting with the persecution in 1801, countless Korean Catholics lost their lives over eight decades.

Jeoldu-san became a Catholic sacred site in 1962. At the time only a memorial tower marked the spot, but on the 100th anniversary of the 1866 Persecution a construction project was launched to build a church, a museum, and a bell tower in the compound. The history of Korean Catholic Church is in full display at the Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine, but there is no separate church for worship. Instead a small chapel shares the third floor of the memorial hall with a martyrs’ museum.

The memorial hall shows several architectural features which symbolize the spirit of martyrdom, the Gospel, propagation of faith, and persecution. The roof of the building features a structure that resembles a wooden pillory put on Korean Catholics. The roof is also slanted just like the thatched roof of a traditional Korean house and the gutter is in the shape of an iron chain symbolizing the oppression of the faithful. On one side of the roof is a double-tiered dome shaped like a gat, traditional Korean men’s headwear. The smaller dome on top signifies the sacred bodies of Catholic saints and the larger one at the bottom symbolizes the far-reaching dissemination of the faith. The memorial hall received silver prize in a design contest in Paris.

Before visitors enter the memorial hall, they first encounter a memorial to the martyrs, a statue of a family killed at Jeoldu-san, showing the atrocities of the persecutions.

The somewhat gruesome statue portrays two adults and a child whose decapitated heads are placed askew on their bodies. The statue is for the first family to be executed on Jeoldu-san – Francisco Lee Ui-song from Hwanghae Province, his wife Maria Kim Ye-ppeun, and his son Paul Lee Bong-ik.

Here’s the video room and hands-on experience room. There are also outdoor and indoor museums and a reliquary chamber, where the personal effects and relics of our ancestors from 1784 and on are kept.

The indoor museum has in display materials describing the establishment of the Korean Catholic Church, the persecutions of the Catholics, personal belongings of the martyrs, and torture devices.

This is a torturing rack devised by Sir Daewon in 1866. This rope is put around a person and pulled from behind to suffocate the person. This display shows the execution of Korea’s first Catholic priest Andrew Kim Tae-gon at Saenamteo. The man sitting is Father Andrew and among the onlookers are government officers, beggars, children, and merchants. The variety of people watching the execution implies that his death was for the sake of everyone and the children playing with the kite symbolizes his soul taken up to heaven. It is said that his head fell at the eighth stroke of the blade.

Relics and paintings convey the tragic history of the Korean Catholic Church. Some 80 dioramas with traditionally made paper dolls depict twelve major events in the early years of Korean Catholic history, adding reality to the often dangerous yet devout lives of Korean Catholics.

This is the prison. The floor was covered in straws and crawling with mice and bugs. The prisoners had to resort to catching and eating mice, bugs, and even lice, because they were given only a ball of rice and a cup of water to survive. Also the prison had no windows and only one drafty door. The prisoners had their heads covered with these hoods and were chained when they were moved from one place to another.

The mass is held in the chapel. The colorful light from the stained glass shines on the altar.
A staircase to the right of the chapel leads to the reliquary chamber, the most sacred place in the Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine.

This is where the remains of 27 canonized saints and one unknown martyr are kept. Six slots are left empty for those who may be canonized in the future. The reliquary chamber doesn’t keep all the remains, but just a part of them in boxes. Right above the reliquary chamber is where the altar is.

A tour of the museum and the reliquary chamber leaves visitors pensive with the somber reflections on the pain and sacrifice of the early faithful.

I feel comforted when I come here. When I am troubled, I come here to purify myself. Because of these saints, all of us can get cleansed regardless of our beliefs. It’s a chance to reflect on life. I come here often with my children.

The Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine was the first stop for Pope John Paul the Second when he came to Korea to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Korean Catholicism in 1984. Perhaps that’s why the sacred ground is more well-known among foreigners.

About 500 thousand visitors come to the shrine annually. The most distinguished guest by far has been Pope John Paul the Second. When he came to Korea to canonize 103 martyrs on May 3rd, 1984, he came straight here from Kimpo Airport. He prayed in the reliquary chamber where he was greeted by the descendents of the martyrs. The next most memorable visitor is Mother Theresa. Many cardinals and archbishops came by as well.

The outdoor museum features torture devices used during the 1866 Persecution and memorials dedicated to the martyrs. Visitors can see the statue of Korea’s first Catholic priest Andrew Kim Tae-gon, a stone plaque describing the tale of Park Sun-jip whose family of sixteen were all killed during the persecution, the bust of St. John Nam Jong-sam남종삼, and the rock where five saints supposedly rested on their way to the prison. The statues of the martyrs are favorite places for people to offer their prayers.

Perhaps because of the presence of all the saints, a prayer given from the Jeoldu-san Martyrs’ Shrine seems to go straight to heaven. During today’s overly commercialized Christmas season, a pilgrimage to one of the most sacred grounds of the Korean Catholic Church would fill your heart with the true spirit of Christmas.