Gamgok Maegoe Mary Pilgrimage Church

Gamgok Parish was established in 1896 and has a history of over 100 years. The first parish priest, Father Im Ga-mil (a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society), was assigned in 1894 to the historic Catholic village and seminary site in Yeoju Bueongol, which was the first parish. While considering relocating the parish, he passed through Yeoju during a pastoral visit and arrived at Janghowon, where he saw a palace-like house at the foot of a mountain and intuitively felt that this place was most suitable as a parish pastoral site. Immediately, Father Im Ga-mil prayed, "Holy Mother, if you give me that palace-like house and mountain as my possession, I will become your humble servant. And its patron saint will be the Maegoe Holy Mother." He returned to Bueongol and continuously implored the Maegoe Holy Mother. At that time, the palace-like house belonged to Min Eung-sik, the sixth cousin of Empress Myeongseong, and it was also where Empress Myeongseong took refuge during the Imo Incident of 1882. In May 1896, during the month of the Holy Mother, all the house site and mountain were purchased, and on October 7, the month of the Rosary, the parish was established. Eventually, as Father Im Ga-mil had initially prayed, Gamgok Parish was dedicated to the Holy Mother, becoming the Gamgok Maegoe Mary Pilgrimage Church.

Address: 10, Seongdang-gil, Gamgok-myeon, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do