Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health | |
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Shrine Basilica Vailankanni | |
10°40′48″N 79°50′59″E / 10.68000°N 79.84972°E | |
Location | Velankanni, Tamil Nadu |
Country | India |
Denomination | Catholic Church in India |
Website | http://vailankannishrine.net/ |
History | |
Status | Minor basilica |
Dedication | Our Lady of Good Health |
Consecrated | 1962 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Architectural type | Gothic |
Administration | |
Diocese | Tanjore (Thanjavur) |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | Francis Kalist |
Bishop(s) | Sagayaraj Thamburaj |
Rector | A.M.A. Prabakar |
Priest(s) | Arputharaj S, Vice-Rector and parish priest |
The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health, also known as Sanctuary of Our Lady of Velankanni, is a Christian shrine located at the town of Velankanni, Tamil Nadu, India. The shrine is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The devotion has existed since the mid-sixteenth century, it is attributed to three separate events which occurred at the site: The apparition of the Madonna and Child to a slumbering shepherd boy, the miraculous healing of a handicapped buttermilk vendor and the rescue of Portuguese sailors from a deadly sea storm.
Initially, a modest chapel was built by the Portuguese from Goa and Bombay, soon after they washed ashore safely in spite of a severe tempest. An annual novena is celebrated and draws nearly 5 million pilgrims each year.
Pope John XXIII raised the Marian shrine to the status of a minor basilica via the pontifical decree Salutem Supplicibus Dilargiens, signed & notarised on 3 November 1962. He called the shrine "the Lourdes of the East" due to the massive influx of pilgrims.