Top 10 Things to do in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do

Reviewed By Michael_Spencer_12

This shrine is a great center of faith for Korean Catholics, several hours drive south of Seoul. Here a great fact of Korean Catholicism is remembered, the brutal execution of thousands of Catholics, men and women, in the 1800s. There are other shrines to the martyrs of Korea in this country, but this has the greatest impact because of its portrayals of their brutal executions. Christianity was a great offense to the Neo-Confucian state ideology of Korea of the 1800s. Christianity was not even seen as a religion; it was considered a nexus of deviant thought. After I spent some time praying in its chapel after I first arrived, I decided to look around the chapel. Then I saw the portrayals filling its walls of the brutal execution of Korean Catholics, some being buried alive, others being thrown in wells, stones tied around their bodies so that they would sink. Catholic churches ordinarily feature images of saints.These portrayal this chapel's images of saints. Then my wife and myself went into the main monument building behind the chapel building. This also provided statues and portrayals of the suffering and execution of Korean martyrs. proving an intense experience like the chapel. This shrine is a great monument to the faith of the Korean martyrs, suffering, put to death for their faith. My wife said she was touched by this place, and that any troubles she experiences seem much less after she saw what these Catholics faced. This shrine has well-kept grounds. Its peaceful grounds contrast with what is shown inside the buildings. There are photos and memorials of Pope Francis here and there in this shrine, recalling his visit there in 2014. Many Catholics in other countries too have faced suffering and brutal death for their faith, the Catholics of Reformation England, the Catholics of Japan beginning in the 1500s, but nowhere else is there such a portrayal of what happened to a country's Catholic martyrs as is found at this shrine.