Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Villianur
| Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Villianur, Puducherry | |
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| தூய லூர்து அன்னை திருத்தலம், வில்லியனூர், புதுச்சேரி | |
Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Villianur
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| 11°54′41″N 79°45′38″E / 11.911262°N 79.760664°ECoordinates: 11°54′41″N 79°45′38″E / 11.911262°N 79.760664°E | |
| Location | Villianur, Puducherry |
| Country | India |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Founded | 8 April 1877 |
| Dedication | Our Lady of Lourdes |
| Events | 8, May 1886 - The statue was crowned in the name of Pope Leo XIII, and permanent plenary indulgence attached, declared as a Shrine. |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Parish church and Marian shrine |
| Functional status | Active |
| Architect(s) | Fr. Tarbes, M.E.P |
| Architectural type | Chapel |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1866 |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Villianur |
| Archdiocese | Pondicherry and Cuddalore |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Rev. Mgr. Antony Anandarayar |
| Priest(s) | Fr. S. Richard |
Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine is a famous Marian shrine located in Villianur Town, Puducherry. This Roman Catholic shrine is devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes.
In 1867, the MEP missionaries in Puducherry wished to build a Chapel at Villianur which is 13 kilometers from Pondicherry, on the road to Villupuram. Hence they bought a piece of land at Villianur and Rev.Fr.Gou, then procurator of the Puducherry mission after a long negotiation with the Hindu temple authorities of Thirukameswarer Gogilambigai Temple started to build a Chapel at Kanuvapet on the outskirts of Villianur. It is said that the building of the church was sponsored by the thanksgiving offering of Dr.Lephine's family for the miraculous cure of his daughter.
It took 10 years to complete the Chapel. And Rev.Fr.Tarbes a cousin brother of St. Bernadette, the visionary of Lourdes, was appointed as the Parish Priest of Villianur mission. Since he had a direct report of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes, this chapel is the first in the world to be named after Our Lady of Lourdes outside Lourdes, France.
A parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes commissioned a six foot tall statue for the site, which arrived in Puducherry on 4 April 1877. The box containing the statue was dropped three times on the way to the Cathedral, but arrived intact, and was sent on to Villianur.
The statue was claimed to be associated with a number of miracles in the late nineteenth century. In 1885 the archbishop Laouënan went to Rome and provided a report of the alleged miracles that took place at the shrine to Pope Leo XIII. The archbishop received permission on 21 February 1886 to declare the site an official Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, and to canonically crown the statue.
On the archbishop's return from Rome on 8 May 1886, a pontifical high mass was held, with the celebration being witnessed by around 40,000 people. At the mass, the archbishop crowned the statue in the name of the pope, and declared the church as the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Villianur, attaching permanent plenary indulgences to the shrine.
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Wikipedia