The Church of Our Lady of Snow is a
Roman Catholic Marian church
Catholic Marian churches are religious buildings dedicated to the veneration of the Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church, Blessed Virgin Mary. These churches were built throughout the history of the Catholic Church, and today they can be foun ...
in
Kallikulam, Tirunelveli district,
uticorin diocese Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It is one of the Catholic
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
centres in India dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
. In Tamil 'Pani' means 'Snow' and 'Matha' means 'Mother'.
History
People inhabited Kallikulam as early as 1700 AD. In 1770 AD, a
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
ed church was built in the name of Holy Mary by village people. In 1884, Kallikulam villagers and
Jesuit Missionaries decided to build a new church at Kallikulam for Mother Mary. In 1886, a church was constructed in that place and
consecrated to Our Lady of Snow. Every year, the annual
feast
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...
of Our Lady of Snow is celebrated from 27 July to 5 August.
Apparition
An oral tradition in Tamil Nadu states that on 29 March 1939 around 6.30 pm, six young people claim that they saw the Mother Mary appear on a hill near to the Church.People from different part of India visit Apparition hill on first Saturday of every month.
See also
*
Roman Catholic Marian churches
Catholic Marian churches are religious buildings dedicated to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. These churches were built throughout the history of the Catholic Church, and today they can be found on every continent including Antarctica. ...
*
Marian apparitions
A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances during a period of time.
In the Catholic Church, in order for a reported appearance to be classified as a Marian ap ...
References
External links
{{commonscat inline
athisayapanimatha.companichaaral.comPanimatha.comKallikulam.com
Roman Catholic churches in Tamil Nadu
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
Tirunelveli
Roman Catholic shrines in India