Our Lady of Health, Vailankanni
The history begins in the 16th century when the first apparition of Our Lady was to a shepherd Hindu boy, carrying milk and was on his way from Vailankanni to a customer in Nagapattinam. The little boy rested near a waterpond when he saw suddenly a graceful Lady of exquisite beauty, holding in her hands a sweet child. Both wore halo´s around their heads. Our Lady asked the boy for some milk for her child and the boy gave it to her willingly. Our Lady and the Child then smiled to the boy. When he reached the customer and told the story he didn´t believe the boy. Then suddenly the milk started to surge over the pot and flowout. The place then was called "Our Lady's Tank".
The second appariton took some years later with a poor widow and her son near Vailankanni. The boy was lame by birth and every day he sat under a banyan tree at a place called Nadu Thittu and sold buttermilk to the people who passed by and were thirsty. Then on one day he saw a very bright light in front of him and a beautiful Lady with a divine Child in her arms asked the boy for a cup of buttermilk. After that She asked him that he would go to a Catholic gentleman at Nagapattinam to put up a chapel in her name, at the place she appeared. Then the boy realised he was not lame anymore and could walk so ran to the Catholic gentleman at Nagapattinam and they both returned to the site that Our Lady had appeared and she appeared again to them both.The man built a Chapel at "Nadu Thittu' where now still the Shrine Basilica is.The Lady then was called "Our Lady of Good Health".
The third time Our Lady appeared was in the 17th century when a Portuguese merchant vessel was sailing from Macao to Colombo in a terrible storm. They prayed and begged Mary the star of the Sea to save them. And they promised to build a church if they would land safely. The sea then became calm and the ship landed near the shore of Vailankanni on September 8th, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. They gave thanks and tribute to Our Lady and they improved the little thatched chapel that the Catholic gentleman build and made a beautiful stone built Chapel. On their next visit they decorated the Altar with porcelain plates of biblical illustrations to thank Our Lady.
The celebration of this feast is an annual festival which lasts for 9 days and attracts over one and a half million pilgrims every year. Not only Catholics but also non-Christians. Hundreds of miraculous cures are reported every year.
Historical Data of Vailankanni Shrine
1. The history of Our Lady of Health, Vailankanni, dawned in the 16th century
2. In September 1771, Vailankanni which had been a substation of Nagapattinam Parish, was raised to the status of a Parish.
3. The majestic Shrine facing the East, was renovated twice in 1920 and 1933.
4. His Holiness Pope John the XXIII, raised the Shrine to the status of 'Basilica' on the 3rd November 1962. The apparitions of Our Lady, the Miraculous statue of Our Lady, the countless miracles, the magnificent architecture and beauty of the Shrine, were the motives for this Shrine to become a Basilica.
5. The storeyed extension Basilica was blessed and opened in 1975.
6. In 1985,the little Chapel at Our Lady's Tank, was built a new and blessed.
The history begins in the 16th century when the first apparition of Our Lady was to a shepherd Hindu boy, carrying milk and was on his way from Vailankanni to a customer in Nagapattinam. The little boy rested near a waterpond when he saw suddenly a graceful Lady of exquisite beauty, holding in her hands a sweet child. Both wore halo´s around their heads. Our Lady asked the boy for some milk for her child and the boy gave it to her willingly. Our Lady and the Child then smiled to the boy. When he reached the customer and told the story he didn´t believe the boy. Then suddenly the milk started to surge over the pot and flowout. The place then was called "Our Lady's Tank".
The second appariton took some years later with a poor widow and her son near Vailankanni. The boy was lame by birth and every day he sat under a banyan tree at a place called Nadu Thittu and sold buttermilk to the people who passed by and were thirsty. Then on one day he saw a very bright light in front of him and a beautiful Lady with a divine Child in her arms asked the boy for a cup of buttermilk. After that She asked him that he would go to a Catholic gentleman at Nagapattinam to put up a chapel in her name, at the place she appeared. Then the boy realised he was not lame anymore and could walk so ran to the Catholic gentleman at Nagapattinam and they both returned to the site that Our Lady had appeared and she appeared again to them both.The man built a Chapel at "Nadu Thittu' where now still the Shrine Basilica is.The Lady then was called "Our Lady of Good Health".
The third time Our Lady appeared was in the 17th century when a Portuguese merchant vessel was sailing from Macao to Colombo in a terrible storm. They prayed and begged Mary the star of the Sea to save them. And they promised to build a church if they would land safely. The sea then became calm and the ship landed near the shore of Vailankanni on September 8th, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. They gave thanks and tribute to Our Lady and they improved the little thatched chapel that the Catholic gentleman build and made a beautiful stone built Chapel. On their next visit they decorated the Altar with porcelain plates of biblical illustrations to thank Our Lady.
The celebration of this feast is an annual festival which lasts for 9 days and attracts over one and a half million pilgrims every year. Not only Catholics but also non-Christians. Hundreds of miraculous cures are reported every year.
Historical Data of Vailankanni Shrine
1. The history of Our Lady of Health, Vailankanni, dawned in the 16th century
2. In September 1771, Vailankanni which had been a substation of Nagapattinam Parish, was raised to the status of a Parish.
3. The majestic Shrine facing the East, was renovated twice in 1920 and 1933.
4. His Holiness Pope John the XXIII, raised the Shrine to the status of 'Basilica' on the 3rd November 1962. The apparitions of Our Lady, the Miraculous statue of Our Lady, the countless miracles, the magnificent architecture and beauty of the Shrine, were the motives for this Shrine to become a Basilica.
5. The storeyed extension Basilica was blessed and opened in 1975.
6. In 1985,the little Chapel at Our Lady's Tank, was built a new and blessed.
The vatican has not approved this apparition yet right???
ReplyDeleteThe following is from the Miracle Hunter website which has much information on apparitions that have been approved or not approved. This is what it says:
ReplyDeleteApproval
The apparitions of Our Lady of Good Health have not been formally approved but are implicitly approved by the elevation of the church to basilica status.
In 1962, the bishop of the diocese, Dr. R.A. Sundram went to Rome to attend the second session of the Second Vatican Council. At this time he requested that the Holy Father raise the ancient shrine of Our Lady of Vailankanni to the high rank and dignity of a "minor basilica". The request was carefully looked into and magnanimously granted. His holiness Pope John XXIII graciously issued orders raising the sshrine to the exalted state of a minor basilica. Thus the shrine basilica of Vailankanni became linked to the St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/vailankanni/index.html