Catholicism, which worships God above all things and calls for absolute faith in Him, came into fundamental conflict with Confucian society, which effectively functioned as the state religion. Its universal and egalitarian worldview clashed with the patriarchal and hierarchical ethics that emphasized filial piety and loyalty.

This conflict surfaced publicly in 1791 in Jin-san,Jeolla Province, when Yun Ji-chung burned his family ancestral tablets according to Catholic teaching during his mother’s funeral. He was executed for violating the Confucian rites of ZhuziJiali, and from this event, widespread persecution began.

In the Shin-hae Persecution of 1791, Yun Ji-chung Paul and Kwon Sang-yeon James were executed; both were beatified by Pope Francis on August 16, 2014, at Gwanghwamun.

Persecution had begun even earlier, in 1785,with the Eulsa House Raid, when believers were discovered during Mass; Kim Beom-u Thomas died a martyr the following year.

Over the next century, major persecutions followed:

• 1801 – Shin-yu Persecution
• 1839 – Gihae Persecution
• 1846 – Byung-o Persecution
• 1866 – Byung-in Persecution

Along with these, the 1901 Jeju persecution (Shin-chuk Riot) resulted in 300 martyrs. For a hundred years, large and small persecutions continued, producing nearly 10,000 martyrs.

Jeong Ha-sang Paul submitted his famous Memorial to the Prime Minister criticizing the government’s injustice and was martyred in 1839.

St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon, the first Korean priest, was martyred at age 25near the Han River in 1846.

In 1866, under Daewongun, the harshest persecution in Korean Church history claimed 8,000 lives.

Despite brutal oppression, believers formed hidden mountain communities and eventually witnessed the day of religious freedom.

After Korea’s liberation in 1945, a second wave of persecution struck under North Korean Communism.

Priests, brothers, and sisters were falsely accused as spies, and many lay believers were imprisoned as “counterrevolutionaries.” More than 150clergy, religious, and seminarians were arrested or killed in North and South Korea.

In 1962, the long-desired ecclesiastical hierarchy was formally established in Korea, and in 1984, the Church celebrated the canonization of 103 Korean Martyr Saints.

Hwang Sa-yeong, who passed the civil service exam at age sixteen in 1790, was personally commended by King Jeongjo, who promised him a position in government when he turned twenty. The king even held his hand, and Hwang wrapped his wrist in silk to remember the honor. He married Jeong Nan-ju, daughter of Jeong Yak-hyeon and niece of Jeong Yak-yong, thereby becoming deeply connected to the leading Catholic families. He was related by marriage to Yi Seung-hun, the first baptized Korean, and to Jeong Yak-jong,a founding leader. He was baptized in 1791. Even when many apostatized during the Shin-hae Persecution, he held fast to his faith, calling Catholicism “a good medicine that saves the world.” Rejecting ancestral rites meant abandoning a future in government, yet he placed no value on worldly success despite the king’s earlier praise. After Father Zhou Wen mo entered Korea, Hwang served closely at his side and became a key member of the lay association Myeongdohoe. After moving to Seoul in 1798, he offered his house as one of the six meeting places of Myeongdohoe and taught reading and doctrine to young believers. He also devoted himself to copying Catholic texts. By the time of the Shin-yu Persecution of 1801, he had become one of the core leaders of the Church. To inform Bishop Gouvea in Beijing of the horrors of the persecution and plead for religious freedom, he wrote the Baekseo(Silk Letter), even appealing for Chinese intervention. The letter was intercepted, and Hwang was arrested in September.

He was executed at Seosomun by dismemberment, and his entire family suffered collective punishment:

• His mother Yi Yun-hye wasexiled to Geoje Island.
• His wife Jeong Myeong-nyeon (Jeong Yak-yong’s niece) was enslaved in Jeju’s Daejeong-hyeon.
• His two-year-old son Hwang Gyeong-han was exiled to Chuja Island.
• His uncle Hwang Seok-pil was exiled to Gyeongheung in Hamgyeong Province.
• Even the family’s servants were driven into exile.

The day after Hwang’s execution, officials demolished his home and dug a pit so that water would pool in it—punishment known as paga-jeotaek-hyeong, the destruction of the home of a criminal.

Persecution of Catholics grew even more intense. The surviving faithful fled government oppression and hid deep in the mountains of Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do, Chungcheong-do, and along the Taebaek and Sobaek mountain ranges, which accelerated the nationwide spread of the faith. As a result, the Joseon Catholic Church, formerly centered on scholars, took root among the common people around the time of the Shin-yu Persecution.

For one hundred years, approximately three thousand unnamed martyrs were killed here. Methods of execution included hanging, beheading, beating, stoning, starvation, death by exposure, dismemberment, and mass live burial numbering in the thousands. Their official charge was “crimes against the state,” meaning acts deemed to disrupt national authority.

On August 17, 2014, Pope Francis celebrated the Closing Mass of Asian Youth Day at Haemi-eupseong Fortress.