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Our Lady of Velankanni (16th -
17th Century)
Our Lady of Velankanni -
Festival Celebrated On: September 8th
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Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health majestically stands facing the
East, in India is situated on the East Coast, 10 kms to the south of
Nagapattinam which is the district headquarters. Vailankanni is 350
kms to the south of Chennai the capital of Tamilnadu in South India.
The
name and fame of this international Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of
Health, is founded on the three incidents that took place at three
different periods in the 16th and the 17th centuries at Vailankanni.
Though there is no historical document or record about the
Apparitions of Mary the Mother of Jesus at Vailankanni, the oral
tradition and the innumerable miracles wrought in the name of Our
Lady of Health down the past 3½ centuries ascertain the two
apparitions of the Blessed Mother of Vailankanni in the 16th century
and the saving of the Portuguese sailors from a tempest in the Bay
of Bengal in the later 17th century. |
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First Apparition of St. Mary
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Sometime during the sixteenth century
(around 1560), Our Lady with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk. A
young shepherd boy was asked to fetch some milk for his master.
On the return trip, he stopped to rest under a tree near a pond.
He was awakened from his slumber by a vision of the
Blessed Virgin with the infant Jesus in her arms. She smiled at
the boy and asked him for some of his milk for the Divine Child.
After the Child drank, Our Lady smiled at the boy and the vision
faded. Returning with little milk, the boy’s master did not
believe his story until the lid was taken off the milk jug and
it
miraculously began to run over with milk.
After this, the pond where the vision took place became a popular
place of worship and was known as “Our Lady’s Tank.” |
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Second Apparition of St. Mary
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Towards
the end of 16th century, Our Lady appeared again.
This time she appeared to the lame son of a widow, who supported his
mother selling buttermilk.
One day, while he was
selling his goods, the Blessed Virgin appeared to the boy with the Child
Jesus in her arms. Both were enveloped in the brightest light. She asked
the boy for a cup of buttermilk. Upon receiving the cup, the Queen of
Heaven gave it to her Infant Son and asked Him to heal the boy’s legs.
She then told the boy to visit a wealthy gentleman who lived in another
town and ask him to build a shrine in her honor on that very place. |
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Just as the boy was about
to protest that his infirmity made it impossible for him to travel, Our
Lady commanded him to get up and walk. He then realized that his
withered legs had regained their strength and motion. He immediately
went to see the gentleman. Upon arriving the gentleman received him
warmly and immediately complied with Our Lady’s wishes. He had received
the same message in a dream the previous night. He had a simple chapel
built on the same spot where the Basilica stands today.
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Miracles at Velankanni
Appearance to the Portuguese Sailors
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Innumerable miracles occurred and still occurs at Velankanni, the
Lourdes of the East. The first of them was occurred in the 17th century,
when Our Merciful Mother rescued a few Portuguese merchant sailors from a violent storm, which wrecked their ship.
A group of Portuguese
sailors encountered fierce storms traveling from Macao, China. In
desperation they beseeched the help of Mary, Star of the Sea and vowed
to build a Church in her honor wherever she led them, if she would save
them. After
washing ashore near Vailankanni on September 8, the feast of the
Nativity of Our Lady, they immediately went ashore and fell on their
knees in thanksgiving. A group of Indian fishermen, recognizing that
they were Catholic, directed them to the shrine. They immediately began
the construction of a larger brick shrine, and throughout their lives made
several more trips to Vailankanni, to enrich the shrine with treasures
they acquired in China and elsewhere.
A Ray of Hope
Amid the Chaos
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When the tsunami struck,
its deadly waters leveled the town of Vailankanni, but miraculously did
not enter the shrine. |
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This brings us to December 26, 2004, when the
terrifying tsunami wrought destruction throughout the coastlines of
southern Asia. The town of Vailankanni was not spared the destruction.
However, as the waves engulfed the town, a Mass was taking place in the
shrine with 2,000 pilgrims in attendance.
Although, it left the
entire town in shambles, killing thousands, the deadly waters did not
enter the shrine, and everyone present was spared. According to the BBC,
the shrine was the only building to escape the devastation.
Perhaps the most
extraordinary aspect is that buildings on the same elevation, further
inshore were destroyed, while those inside the shrine remained entirely
dry. Basilica officials did not hesitate to call the event miraculous. |
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Novena To Our
Lady of Velankanni
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Our Lady of
Good Health -
Festival: September 8th
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Oh Most Holy Virgin! You
were chosen by the Most Adorable Trinity from all
eternity to be the most pure Mother of Jesus. Permit me,
your humble and devoted servant, to remind you of the
joy received in the instant of the Most Sacred
Incarnation of our Divine Lord and during the nine
months you carried Him in your chaste womb. I wish most
sincerely that I could renew, or even increase that joy,
by the fervour of my Prayers.
Oh! Tender Mother of the afflicted! Grant me under my
present necessities that special protection You have
promised to those who devoutly commemorate this
ineffable joy. Relying on the infinite mercies of your
Divine Son, trusting in the promise which He has made
that those who ask should receive, and penetrated with
confidence in your powerful prayers, I most humbly
entreat you intercede for me. I beg you to obtain for me
the favours which I petition for in this novena, if it
be the Holy Will of God to grant them; to ask for me
whatever graces I most stand in need of.
(Here specify your requests)
I desire by this novena, which I now offer in your
honour, to prove the lively confidence I have in your
intercession. Accept it, I beseech you, in honour of
that supernatural love and joy, with which your
Immaculate Heart was replenished during the abode of
your divine Son in your womb; in veneration of which, I
offer you the sentiments of my heart.
(Repeat the Hail Mary nine times)
and then say the following prayer:-
Oh! Mother of God! accept these salutations in union
with the respect and veneration with which the Angel
Gabriel first hailed you, "Full of Grace" I wish most
sincerely that they may become so many gems in the crown
of your incidental glory, which will increase in
brightness to the end of the world.
I beseech you, Oh! comfortress of the afflicted, by the
joy you received, when the word was made flesh, to
obtain for me the favours and graces, which I have now
implored through your powerful intercession. For this
end I offer you all the good works which have even been
performed in your honour. I most humbly entreat you for
the love of the amiable Heart of Jesus, with which yours
was ever so inflammed, to hear my humble prayers and to
obtain my requests.
- Amen.
This Novena prayer will be helpful to those helpless
people when everything fails, and who wants speedy and
visible answers to their agony. |
The Blessed Virgin appears
again; this time
in Vietnam as the Lady of the La Vang
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