Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine is a famous

Marian shrine A shrine to the Virgin Mary (or Marian shrine) is a shrine marking an Marian apparitions, apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Blessed Virgin Mary, Marian devotion ...

located in

Villianur Villianur, or Villianour, is a town in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India. It is a commune panchayat and the headquarters of the Villianur taluk of Puducherry District. Kameeswarar temple is the major landmark in the town. Location Vi ...

Town,

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

, India. This Roman Catholic shrine is devoted to

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (french: Notre-Dame de Lourdes) is a title of the Virgin Mary. She is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, o ...

. The venerated Marian image enshrined within received a Pontifical decree on 21 February 1886 from

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

to declare the site an official Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and to canonically crown the statue.

History

In 1867, the MEP missionaries in

wished to build a Chapel at Villianur which is 13 kilometers from

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

, on the road to

Villupuram Viluppuram, Villupuram, or Vizhuppuram () is a Municipality and the administrative headquarters of Viluppuram district. Located south west of a Tiruvannamalai and north west of Cuddalore null The town serves as a major railway junction, ...

. 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 Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...

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

. The Archbishop received the Pontifical decree 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.

Pond

There was a natural pond in front of the chapel. it was once used as the water reservoir for the irrigation of the lands around and water came from the big

Ousteri Lake Ousteri Lake (French: Lac Oustéri) is a lake in the union territory of Puducherry, state of Tamil Nadu. This lake is also called as Ossudu Lake as it is located in the village named Ossudu. The lake extends to about 800 hectares in which 390 h ...

which is 10 km away from here. And this pond was constructed by Fr. Lesbond, the Parish Priest, with donations from Zigon organized by Mr. Lesage. Mr. Larocgue from the people in Zigon got a statue from Lourdes and in 1924 and a solemn ceremony took place to install the statue in the middle of the sacred pond after the due consecration of the statue and the pond. It is believed by the people here that the pond water is miraculous and has the ability to cure the sick and bring good fortune. This is the only Catholic church in Asia having a sacred pond in front of the church.

The grotto

19 years after

Lourdes apparitions The Marian Apparitions at Lourdes were reported in 1858 by Bernadette Soubirous, the 14-year-old daughter of a miller from the town of Lourdes in southern France. From 11 February to 16 July 1858, she reported 18 apparitions of "a Lady". Soubi ...

, the first church and grotto for Our Lady of Lourdes was constructed in 1877. The centenary celebrations was celebrated on 10 September 1977. As a remembrance of the centenary celebrations, Rev.Fr.Duissen built a big grotto in the garden of the church, which was consecrated by bishop

Venmani S. Selvanather Venmani S. Selvanather (6 July 1913 – 14 October 1993) was an Indian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore from 1973 to 1992, succeeding Ambrose Rayappan. He founded several ...

on 10 October 1978. The grotto which was inside the church was modified according as per the instruction of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

The 125th Anniversary Celebrations

On 8 October 2011, on the 125th anniversary of the crowning of the statue by the Pope, Archbishop

Antony Anandarayar Antony Anandarayar (17 July 1945 – 4 May 2021) was an Indian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore.

re-crowned the image with a diamond crown donated by devotees.

Annual feast

Annual feast of Our Lady of Lourdes shrine commence with the nine days of Novena and flag hoisting on the 6th day after

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

. The car procession is done during these days. The feast day is on the 15th day after Easter. This is a Puducherry state Christian festival.

The Holy Water from Lourdes

Every first Saturday in the month of August, The Holy Water from Lourdes Church, France is poured into the 'Sacred Pond' at Villianur Shrine. This event is attended by thousands of devotees every year.

Pilgrimage on foot

As a sign of gratitude to Our Lady, for saving the city from a cyclone, the first pilgrimage on foot took place on 10 October 1977 from

and this tradition is still continued on the second Saturday in the month of October. It starts from

Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pondicherry Immaculate Conception Cathedral (french: Cathédrale de l'Immaculée-Conception de Pondichéry, ta, தூய அமலோற்பவ அன்னை பேராலயம்) is the cathedral mother church for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese ...

and ends in the shrine covering approximately 12 km.

Gallery

Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine Flagpole.jpg, Church flagpole, renovated in 2014 Oswald Gracias at Villianur shrine 01.jpg, Benediction sermon by Card.

Oswald Gracias Oswald Gracias (born 24 December 1944) is an Indian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed Latin Church Archbishop of Bombay by Pope Benedict XVI on 14 October 2006 and was raised to the cardinalate in 2007. In 2008, he beca ...

Oswald Gracias at Villianur shrine 02.jpg,

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, also called Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament or the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, is a devotional ceremony, celebrated especially in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in some other Ch ...

Oswald Gracias at Villianur shrine 03.jpg, Blessing of the new gate Villianur shrine Grotto.jpg, Grotto Villianur shrine Grotto Altar.jpg, Grotto Altar

External links

Official Website

http://www.pondicherryarchdiocese.org/PARKEDDOMAINS/villianur.org/
{{RC Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore Roman Catholic churches in Puducherry Shrines to the Virgin Mary Roman Catholic churches completed in 1877 Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore Roman Catholic shrines in India 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in India 1877 establishments in the French colonial empire