As cathedrals go, Seoul’s Myeong-dong Cathedral is certainly no showstopper.

When I first spied it tucked off a bustling street in Seoul’s chic Myeong-dong district, I confess I was a bit disappointed with the reddish-brown brick edifice. Its pure Gothic style has no adornments, resulting in a plain look that’s less spectacular than the regular parish church I attended as a child. But I quickly discovered Myeong-dong’s power to inspire lies not in its structure but its people.

Koreans have a long connection with Buddhism. The first Catholic community didn’t gather on the peninsular country until 1784. Not surprisingly, a lot of people didn’t take kindly to its foreign ideas. Major persecutions of the Paris Foreign Missionaries — a group dedicated to spreading the Gospel in Korea — took place in 1839, 1846 and 1866.

But the Korean Catholics weren’t cowed. They built Myeong-dong in 1898 on the very spot where Korea’s first Catholics had gathered more than a century earlier.

Consecrated with Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception as its patron, Myeong-dong was also Korea’s first official Catholic parish.

Korea’s persecution of Catholics was largely over by the 20th century. But in 1910 the Japanese invaded and occupied Korea, forcing its people to convert to the Shinto religion.

Then, after the end of World War II and the Japanese surrender, the country was split in two. The Soviet Union occupied the northern half and the United States, the southern.

The Korean War in the early 1950s solidified this split into two countries. North Korea fell under communist rule, which basically forbade the practice of religion. South Korea’s Catholics, who had held tightly to their nascent faith during these tumultuous decades, had more reason than ever to fervently practice it.

Enter Disciples

After my initial glimpse of Myeong-dong Cathedral from the street below, I eyed the parish’s Grotto of the Blessed Mother, dedicated by Archbishop Rho Ki-Nam in 1960 for peace on the Korean peninsula.

Wedged unceremoniously in between the parish’s Catholic Center parking lot and a small embankment, it constantly hosted visitors stopping by to reverently bow or pray in front of the Blessed Mother as votives candles flickered in the gray daylight. Outside the back of the cathedral, additional folks steadily drifted by to reflect before a statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

Inside, I found the church rather drab. Gray walls and plain wood columns follow along the basic Latin-cross floor plan. The altar is modest, although the stained-glass windows — believed to have been crafted in French Benedictine monasteries — provide a welcome bright spot. The windows depict the mysteries of the Rosary, the Nativity scene and adoration of the Magi, and Jesus and the Twelve Apostles.

I was intrigued by the paintings above the side altars, although the dim interior made it a bit difficult to see their details. The two largest show the first gathering of Christians in Korea and the famous 79 martyrs, most of whom died in the persecutions of 1839 and 1846 and were beatified in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.

There are also smaller portraits of Kim Bum-U, Rhee Byok and Rhee Sung-Hoon, three men instrumental in introducing the Catholic faith to Korea, and Kim Tae-Geon, or St. Andrew, the patron saint of Korean clergy.

There was something compelling about seeing Asian men in their native garb — flowing white robes and stiff, black hats with wide brims — clutching Bibles or crucifixes. Perhaps it was the realization of how much people have sacrificed over the centuries to spread God’s word to every corner of the globe, or perhaps how our religion seamlessly unites such a disparate group of people.

Pray for the Peninsula

Once I moved away from the portraits, I realized there’s something else quite unique about Myeong-dong Cathedral. Unlike popular cathedrals in other large cities, here there are no softly chattering visitors snapping photos and poking around the treasures. Instead, you can hear a pin drop.

I noticed that everyone who entered seemed deeply reverential, with nothing but deep prayer in mind. Clusters of people moved along the Stations of the Cross, lips silently moving in prayer. Other guests slipped into the pews for contemplative time.

One lone figure slowly walked up the center aisle and bowed in front of the altar, than sank to her knees and bent forward, Buddhist-style, in prayer. I found this deeply moving.

I didn’t have time to see the basement, where there’s a small sanctuary and crypt directly beneath the main altar. Originally nine altars adorned the crypt; only two remain today. The crypt houses the remains of the beatified martyrs.

In 1984, on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Korean Church, Pope John Paul II elevated to sainthood the 79 beatified martyrs, mainly from the 1839 and 1846 persecutions, plus another 24 who had died in the 1866 persecution.

Today, more than 200 years after the Catholic faith was introduced to the Korean peninsula, it’s one of South Korea’s three main religions.

And Myeong-dong Cathedral is not only the Catholic faith’s home base in Korea, but also a focal point for the Korean peninsula’s democracy movement. May God watch over it and keep it in these dangerous times.

Melanie Radzicki McManus writes from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Planning Your Visit

Myeong-dong Cathedral is tucked into the heart of central Seoul, in the chic Myeong-dong district. The cathedral is open daily, offering 13 Masses every Sunday, including a Mass in English at 9 a.m. in the chapel. Two vigil Masses are also held Saturday evenings. Four Masses are held most weekdays, and confessions are heard daily (in English before the 9 a.m. Sunday Mass). For more information, visit mdsd.or.kr on the Internet. (A link to an English translation is at the upper right-hand corner.)

Getting There

There are numerous daily flights from America to Seoul’s award-winning Incheon International Airport. Once you arrive, take a bus to your hotel. Two good choices: the Lotte Hotel and Millennium Seoul Hilton Hotel, both close to Myeong-dong Cathedral.