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 Our
Lady of Vailankanni Church that stands majestically on the shores of Bay
of Bengal near the Elliot’s Beach in Chennai has an immense appeal
with its beautiful facades of two shrines. The shrine beckons people of
all faiths and classes like a beacon that gives hope to the weary
voyager who is in the midst of a turbulent sea.
As we enter the premises
we see many devotees lighting up candles before they enter the main
shrine to take part in the prayer. The altar is awe - inspiring with
Mother Mary holding Infant Jesus in Her hands. People attending the mass
hear the sermons and join the choir to sing in praise of the Lord in
unison. The atmosphere is serene and the prayer gets over with an
‘Amen’.
For us Chennaiites, Annai
Vailankanni
shrine is a distinguished church with its aesthetically built shrines.
The dedication and the openness with which it receives people of many
different faiths are very well known.
The church was once
merely a thatched shed in a slum area. It was then that Rev. Fr. P.T.
Arulappa, then a priest of the Archdiocese of Madras Mylapore had a
dream in which the Blessed Mother Mary asked him to build Her a church
in the area. He built this shrine in its original form in 1971, and it
was inaugurated in 1972 by the then Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanidhi.
(Reminiscing reverentially about the efforts Fr.Arulappa took to give
shape to his dream, Fr. Bernard Lawrence, the present Parish Priest at
the shrine says, " He was a man of God and had tremendous love and
total surrender to Mother Mary".)
Gradually
the church grew inside the vast premises. A towering 97’ belfry was
built in 1973. There is a store that sells pictures and statues of Our
Lady, as well as books on spirituality, lives of Saints etc on the
southern side of the main shrine. Rich offerings made by devotees are
displayed in the Votive Offering centre. Later was built a Community
Centre named after the founder,  Fr.P.T.Arulappa, where functions are
held. It was due to the magnificent efforts of Fr. Joseph, Fr.
T.J.George, Fr. Amal Raj and Fr. Lawrence Raj that the shrine has grown
to what it is today. And still it is growing up with new facilities
being added up. An open air theatre to conduct functions during Easter
and Christmas has recently been inaugurated in the premises. It has a
semi-circular dome with the statue of Jesus on top of it, and it is
surrounded by 15 samll stages that depict the 15 stages in the life of
Christ.
There are different
prayer services offered here, mainly in English and Tamil, with a
Malayalam service once a month on the II Sunday.
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.Every Sunday, four Tamil
and one English service are conducted at the shrines. Though there are
different services at different timings on Saturdays and weekdays too,
the Novena prayer conducted on the First Saturday of every month is
considered to be the highlight of these services. This special Novena
Mass is conducted at 5.45 p.m., followed by special blessing of the sick
and a car procession of Annai Vailankanni. At this special service,
there will be a solemn Eucharistic celebration or Holy Mass.
This
church is a special one both as a Parish as well as a shrine with 1200
families as permanent members and lakhs and lakhs of people to visit the
shrine. From January 2000, the church is inviting a non- – Catholic, -
a popular personality in the society to speak on how Mother Mary has
influenced them in their life to inspire the mass and the programme is
called Maadham Oru Maa Manithar.
The shrine celebrated its
Silver Jubilee in 1997. An annual festival for 9 days takes place in
August-September with the flag hoisting ceremony on 29th
August and the Car festival on 7th September. During the Car
festival, the whole neighbourhood
comes alive with devotees surging towards the venue with
their kith and
kin. On 8th September after several services from early
morning till late evening the flag will be lowered as the conclusion of
the feasts.
Vincent De’Paul Society
an organisation attached to the church that takes care of the poor and
the needy is headed by the priest. The Society helps many poor students
liberally and distributes rice and dhal to deserving people irrespective
of their faith.
Annai Vailankanni Shrine,
which is attached to the Archdiocese of Madras Mylapore headed by Arch
Bishop, Most. Rev.Fr. Aruldos James has plans to invite lot of
dignitaries for the forthcoming annual festival as this year has been
declared by the Pope, as the Jubilee Year to mark the 2000th
year after the birth of Jesus Christ. According to the Parish Priest
Rev. Fr. Bernard Lawrence, as the Jubilee is celebrated all around the
world, the shrine also wants to share the joy with other people and each
and every celebration will be a special one.
Our Lady of Vailankanni
Shrine has emerged as a unique shrine and appeal to people from all the
states of India as well as pilgrims from Singapore, Malaysia and Sri
Lanka and the church extends its services creating facilities for the
convenience of those pilgrims.
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