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 of Bueonggol in Yeoju, which had the first parish and a seminary. 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, "O Virgin Mary, if you grant me that palace-like house and the mountain as my possession, I will become your humble servant, and its patron saint will be Our Lady of the Rosary." He returned to Bueonggol and continuously implored Our Lady of the Rosary. 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 in 1882. In May 1896, during the month of Mary, all the house site and the mountain were purchased, and on October 7, the month of the Rosary, the parish was established. Ultimately, as Father Im Ga-mil had initially prayed, the Gamgok Parish was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, becoming the Gamgok Maegoe Mary Pilgrimage Church.

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