AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Perched at around 500 meters elevation on the ridges of Mount Seonggeosan in Cheonan, this extraordinary Catholic pilgrimage site is one of Korea's highest and most atmospheric shrines. During the 19th-century persecutions, seven secret mountain villages on these slopes sheltered Korean Catholics who refused to renounce their faith. Today, the graves of those martyrs rest beneath carefully maintained wildflower meadows, connected by the 2.1-kilometer "Martyrs' Path" lined with lanterns inscribed with saints' names. Designated as a Chungcheongnam-do provincial monument in 2008, Seonggeosan draws more than 40,000 pilgrims each year who come to walk in the footsteps of Korea's early believers amid some of the most serene mountain scenery in the country.↗↗↗
A Mountain of Faith and Sacrifice
The name Seonggeosan—literally "Holy Dwelling Mountain"—is said to have been bestowed by Wang Geon, founder of the Goryeo dynasty, who reportedly saw five-colored clouds lingering on the peak. Centuries later, that same spiritual elevation took on a new meaning. Beginning in the 1830s and intensifying after the Gihae Persecution of 1839, Korean Catholics fled from the lowland towns into the deep valleys of this 579-meter peak, establishing a network of seven hidden mountain villages known collectively as the Seonggeosan faith community.