St. Michael's Church is one of the oldest

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

churches in the

Mahim Mahim (, ) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway zone, Western Railway and Harbour line (Mumbai Suburban Railway), Harbour Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway, Mumbai Suburb ...

suburb of Mumbai (Bombay), India. Because the church is at the junction of LJ Road and

Mahim Causeway The Mahim Causeway is a vital link road connecting Mumbai City district/South Mumbai (Churchgate to Mahim) with its Northern and Western Mumbai Suburban district, Suburbs (Bandra to Dahisar). The causeway links the neighbourhoods of Mahim to the ...

it is sometimes referred to as Mahim Church. As of 2023 the Parish priest was Bernard Lancy Pinto.

History

Initially known as ''São Miguel'', the original structure at St Michael's is said to have been built as a convent in 1534 by António do Porto, a church builder of the

Franciscan Order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

. With the Mahratta Invasion of Bassein in 1739, Our Lady of Mount Bandra's chapel was destroyed by the Portuguese at the instigation of the British. A picture of the

Blessed Virgin Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

was rescued from the church and was taken to St Michael’s. From 1739 to 1761, St Michael's served as a refuge to the popular

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

which is now placed at the present-day Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount of

Bandra Bandra ( æːɳɖɾa is a coastal suburb located in Mumbai, the largest city of the Konkan division in Maharashtra, India. The area is located to the immediate north of the River Mithi, which separates Bandra from the Mumbai City district. It ...

. In 1853, St Michael's Church witnessed a struggle of ownership between Bishop Anastasius Hartmann and the

Portuguese padroado The ''Padroado'' (, "patronage") was an arrangement between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Portugal and later the Portuguese Republic, through a series of concordats by which the Holy See delegated the administration of the local churches and gra ...

order. St Michael's was in control of the

vicars apostolic An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

for nearly 60 years. In 1853, a discontented group decided that the control be handed back to the ''Padroado'' system. To prevent this, Hartmann - as the vicars' leader - went to the church and declared that "he would rather die a martyr than surrender the church to the schismatics". Hartmann and his followers stayed in the church with enough food and water for 15 days. His opponents laid "siege" to the church during this period, blocking all entrances. On the 15th day, civil authorities intervened and insisted that the church be reopened. Following this, Hartmann lost control of the church, passing it to the ''padroado'' order. In his 1917 book, Sheppard remarks that St Michael's was situated on the Portuguese church street and is one of the four "only known Portuguese buildings; and of these no distinguishing original feature survives, as they were much rebuilt". The present structure of St. Michaels was rebuilt in 1973.

Novena

On Wednesdays novena prayers to

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Our Mother of Perpetual Succour (), colloquially known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine art, Byzantine ico ...

are held. Some of them offer wax figures of what they desire; for example, a wax house. A priest, Hugh Fonseca, said around 40-50,000 devotees visit the church every week.

Reported "Bleeding" Christ picture

On 27 June 2008, thousands of devotees visited St. Michael's to see the picture of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

called "the Divine Mercy". The picture showed some red spots which were believed to be blood near the heart of Jesus. The spots were noticed on the day at 08:30PM, on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and were termed a "miracle" by devotees. Not only Christians, but also Hindus and Muslims from Maharashtra and the neighboring states of Goa, Karnataka, and Gujarat, visited the Church to catch a glimpse of the picture. The queue to entering St. Michael's extended more than a kilometer. Parish Priest Father Raphael and Father Doneth D'Souza from the St. Michael's church as well as

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

cardinal

Oswald Gracias Oswald Gracias (born 24 December 1944) is an Indian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Bombay from 2006 to 2025. He was made a cardinal in 2007. In 2008, he was elected vice-president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India ...

declined the miracle claim. Fr. D'Souza explained: "It's not a blood stain and it's also not a miracle. Every image of Divine Mercy has a red halo around the heart and in this case, the red colour has run because of the moisture in the air. It will look like a blood stain, but it's not." The image was removed and sent to a scientific analysis on the orders of Oswald Gracias. The result of that study was released in the September archdiocesan weekly and it said that the tests "established that there are no traces of blood in the red rays emanating from the Heart of Jesus in this image of Divine Mercy". Monsoon humidity and changes in the air quality were the suspected causes. Oswald Gracias did not explain the exact reasons.

Activities

St Michael’s is a ‘go-green’ environmentally friendly parish.Times of India website, Retrieved 2023-05-18
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References

External links