Marian devotion
In Yeouido, the urban island where institutions, offices and large roads of Seoul are concentrated, a parish is dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. Invocation brings to the centre of public activity a simple and demanding call: prayer, conversion and commitment to peace.
Advocation: Our Lady of Fatima.
Official Korean name: 의 Mama-ui Seongmo.
Temple: INTERVIEW · Yeouidodong Catholic Church.
Address: 257 Yeouidong-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 07344, South Korea.
Origin as station: 18 May 1973.
Official parish foundation: 17 September 1974.
Dedication of the present temple: 28 April 1984.
Jurisdiction: Catholic archdiocese of Seoul, 15th district Yeongdeungpo- Geumcheon.
Coordinates checked: 37.5215391, 126.9389593.
Documented patronage
The Episcopal Conference of Korea expressly records the MatureOur Lady of Fatima, as patron of Yeouido-dong. The parish itself presents the same title and retains an extensive explanation of its meaning.
A Catholic directory and the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia corroborate identity. This fact sheet does not duplicate the numerous Korean parishes dedicated to Fatima, because it maintains the name, address, history and specific coordinates of Yeouido.
Fatima: a call to return to God
The Catholic tradition places the apparitions of Fatima in Portugal, between May and October 1917, to the small pastors Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta.
The spiritual core is not curiosity about extraordinary secrets or phenomena. The call leads to conversion, prayer of the Rosary, the repair of evil and confidence in God's mercy.
Three children in a wounded Europe
The apparitions occurred during World War I, when entire peoples suffered death, displacement and destruction. The message of peace came through children without political power.
This choice questions the idea that only influential people can transform history. Prayer and humble fidelity do not replace public responsibility, but they can purify their motivations.
The Rosary and Peace
The request to pray the Rosary appears repeatedly in the memory of Fatima. Each mystery contemplates the life, death and resurrection of Christ with the believing look of Mary.
To pray for peace does not mean to remain indifferent to injustice. Prayer must first disarm one's heart and move to protect the victims, seek dialogue and reject the lie.
Hope, not fear
Pope Francis warned in Fatima of an image of Mary that punishes or contains the avenging arm of God. The Virgin does not compete with the mercy of her Son.
True devotion leads to Christ and frees him from paralyzing fear. He invites us to live in the light of God, not to feed sensationalist predictions.
The first steps in a clinic
The parish chronology begins on December 19, 1971, when a first mass was held at a clinic at the Hospital Santa María. The spiritual attention thus preceded the existence of a building of its own.
On May 18, 1973, the Yeouido station was recognized, then dependent on the parish of Yeongdeungpo.
Parish Foundation in 1974
On 17 September 1974 the community was raised to parish and received as the first parish priest Father Francisco Javier Choi Yong-rok.
The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia confirms this provenance and the patronage of Fatima. The official date does not coincide with a main feast of the advocation, and the sources do not explain the choice of the day.
From a chapel next to the hospital to the current site
In January 1976, a new church was dedicated to the hospital. In February 1977 the parish acquired the current land, of some seven hundred pyengand transformed a building that had served as a kindergarten.
The adaptation allowed the community to have a home while moving towards a more stable temple.
The temple dedicated in 1984
The new church of the present site was dedicated on April 28, 1984. The parish had passed in just over a decade of a mass in a clinic to a consolidated community.
The story also reflects the rapid growth of Yeouido and the South Korean capital during those years.
Renew without losing identity
Between March 2008 and September 2009, expansion and remodeling were carried out. In 2019 the temple and different spaces of the lower plants were renewed.
Material reforms make sense when they allow for better celebration, training, reception and service. They do not replace the conversion of the heart requested by the message of Fatima.
Fifty years of community
The parish commemorated its fifty years in 2024. Its website retains a specific memory file and presents this celebration as a starting point for a new stage of communion and mission.
An anniversary allows us to thank those who built the community and to examine whether patronage continues to inspire a life of prayer, reconciliation and service.
Fatima on the Korean peninsula
On a peninsula still divided by a military border, prayer for peace acquires a concrete resonance. The fact sheet does not attribute political or diplomatic programs to the parish that sources do not document.
The advocation does call for prayer for separate families, for those who live under threat and for any honest initiative of dialogue and reconciliation.
The current community
The consulted episcopal directory records 7,166 faithful, three priests and the presence of the Sisters of the Korean Martyrs. This data may vary.
The official phone is 02-782-1259. The parish publishes schedules and notices on its website; they should be consulted before they go.
verified location for the map
The official address is 257 Yeoudo-ro, Yengdeungpo-gu, Seúl. Nominal mapping places the temple in 37.5215391, 126.9389593.
The marker corresponds to the parish building and not to the center of the island, the Catholic hospital and Yeouido Park.
To visit and pray
The visit can be offered for peace in Korea and the world, for those who work in the island's institutions and for people who live in fear, violence or uncertainty.
Before Our Lady of Fatima you can pray the Rosary without haste and translate every request for peace into a concrete gesture of reconciliation, truth or help.
Prayer to Our Lady of Fatima of Yeouido-dong
Our Lady of Fatima, keeps the parish of Yeouido-dong. Teach us to pray with perseverance, to convert the heart and to repair the damage that causes our sin. It protects children, comforts war victims and accompanies divided peoples. May those who work in this city always seek the common good, and bring us Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Amen.
Sources consulted
- Episcopal Conference of Korea: official file of Yeouido-dong.
- Good News Catholic: directorio de Yeouido-dong.
- Yeouido-dong Parish: History and Patronage.
- Yeouido-dong Parish: direction and access.
- Love Catholic: corroboration of identity and activity.
- Korean Catholic Encyclopedia: the origin of the parish.
- Pope Francis: the christocentric and hopeful sense of Fatima.
- Cartography used to verify the temple.
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