3. THE HISTORY OF MARIAN SHRINE OF ANNAI VELANGKANNI
3.1 The History of Marian Shrine of Annai Velangkanni
The history of Marian Shrine of Annai Velangkanni in Medan is inspired from a pilgrimage place “Annai Velangkanni” in India. The gospel of Jesus Christ
was introduced in India by the apostle Thomas since the period of that apostle. The apostle Thomas was the first man who introduced gospel in India and he
became a martyr in a city in India which is called Madras. Thomas is one of the apostles in Christianity bible. Christian people
know him as “Thomas - the unbelievable man”. But after the rise of Jesus Christ, Thomas changed totally and became as one of Jesus Christ apostles who spread
the gospel to all over the world included India. Thus, most of Christians in India call themselves as a Thomas Christian.
Annai Velangkanni in India is a pilgrimage place sanctuary to Mary – Mother of God. It is located in Benggala Bay Coast, in south east of India, exactly
in south of Madras city – Chennai. In that place, Mother Mary is respected with a title of “The Healing Mother”. That pilgrimage place had been developed in the
end of the 16
th
century and the beginning of 17
th
century in Velangkanni because there were miracles happened in different place in that time.
Therefore, in the chapel of Marian Shrine of Annai Velangkanni those miracles are showed in form of picture display.
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1 The Appearance to A Herdsman Kid
There was a herdsman kid in India who always every morning went to Nagapattinam – a city about 10 km from Velangkanni to bring milk and give it to
his customers. One day, when he arrived near a pond in Velangkanni, he felt asleep under a tree “banniyan”. While he slept, the pots of the milk were beside
by him. But, he was awaken up by the blow of the wind, and when he opened his eyes, he saw beautiful princess carrying her child. That beautiful princess smiled
to him and asked him friendlily for giving her child the milk. With a happy and frightened feeling, the herdsman kid gave his milk to the princess’ child. The
beautiful princess smiled again to him without saying anything. After that, the herdsman kid continued his journey to Nagapattinam. And
when he gave the milk to his rich customer, the customer was angry to him because he was late to bring his milk and the milk was decreased. Then the
customer took the milk from the herdsman kid and gave the milk to his hungry boy. In that time, amazingly the milk in the pot was increased and boiled over.
Then, the herdsman kid told what happened to himself to his father. His father was so surprised and then they ran to the place where the beautiful princess
was appeared. They believed that the beautiful princess was Mother Mary. The news of that appearance was spread everywhere and people pray for Mother
Mary. Finally, the place where the beautiful princess was appeared was called Matha Kualam – the pond of Mother.
The picture of the appearance to a herdsman kid is in appendix page 37 in picture 01.
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2 The Appearance to A Paralyzed Boy
A few years later, the same mother appeared herself to a paralyzed Hindu boy. In Velangkanni there was a high place called The Central High Land. In that
place, there was a banyan tree which gave shelter from the sun light to those people who were in journey. The mother of that boy was a poor widow. Usually,
his mother put him under the banyan tree so that he could sell milk and lemonade to the tourists who were in thirsty.
One day, in summer time, the weather was so hot, and the paralyzed boy sat lonely and suddenly he saw a light that lighter than the sun. The light came
close to him. He was very frightened. But, his fear disappeared soon after he saw a beautiful princess carry her child. That beautiful princess smiled friendlily to
him and said, “Please, give me a glass of milk”. While that beautiful princess gave her child the milk, the paralyzed boy groveled down. The beautiful princess
continued her conversation, “I have chosen this place to give blessing to my parish”. Then the paralyzed boy was commanded by the beautiful princess to go
to Nagapattinam to tell to a Catholic man that he had to built a church in that appearance place. Sadly the paralyzed boy answered her, “How could I go there
because I am paralyzed?” That beautiful princess smiled and said, “Just stand up and do what I ask.” In that time, the paralyzed boy felt that his legs got the new
strength. He jumped happily and ran directly to Nagapatttinam. This was the first miracle in Velangkanni. This miracle makes people
believe and love to Mother of God. And they called the beautiful princess “Arokia Matha” that means, “Mother of Healing”.
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In the night before the appearance to the paralyzed boy, that Catholic man had the same dream. In his dream, the beautiful princess asked the same
thing. Thus, in place where Mother of God commanded in Nadu Thittu, he built a chapel and on its altar he put a statue beautiful of Mary – it is the same to the
appearance of beautiful princess that they had seen. Then, many people come to that place for praying to Mother of God.
The picture of the appearance to a paralyzed boy is in appendix page 37 in picture 02.
3 The Rescuing of A Sailboat
Since Vasco Da Gama – a well known Portuguese sailor had found a way through the sea from Europe to India by travelling around Tanjung Harapan in
South Africa in year 1499, there were many Portuguese sailboats sailed to India and South East Asia for trading.
A trade sailboat was in journey from Macau, Tiongkok to Colombo in Sri Langka. In Benggala bay, they got a terrifying storm. The sailors felt hopeless and
unhelpful unless God reached them. Therefore, with a frightening heart, they knelt and pray to Hail Mary whom they respected by calling Stella Maris - the star of
ocean to rescue them and their boat. Suddenly, the storm stopped and the sea waves became quiet. Apparently, they had been in the beach of Velangkanni.
They were rescued. That moment was happened on 8 September – the born day of Mother of God.
Then, they went to a small church of Hail Mary which was built by wood and the roof also made by coarse grass. They thanked to God and Mother Mary.
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They believed that Mother Mary had rescued them from the danger. As a sign of their thankful feelings, they made a promise that in the place they would build a
bigger church and more beautiful altar than before. They turned back and renovated the church. On the altar, they put metal
sheet of porcelains. The metals were painted with the events of Bible - the metals of their witness about their thankful to Hail Mary. And until now, we can see it in
the central of the altar. The certain date for that moment is not known exactly. However, there is an important document from year 1630 that is written by a
Franciscan priest – Paulo da Trindade. He said that a church had been existed there and the patron was The Healing Mother and also there had been a
Franciscan who lived there the picture of the rescuing of a sailboat is in appendix page 40 in picture 03.
In year 1660 until 1771, Velangkanni was in bad situation. In that time, Nagapattinam and all around regions were in controlled by Kalvinis Dutch. They
wanted to eliminate the honor of Mother Mary and Eucharist celebration. Therefore, Catholic people were decreased from 8000 to 4000. However, after
English people came to India, Catholic people were not bothered anymore and the honor to Mother Mary kept on developing.
There was still a letter from Pater Wilet, S.J. in 1846 that stated that “Velangkanni is holy famous place of Mother Mary.”
The chapel had been widen and in 1920 it was widen again and there were three buildings also constructed - two towers with gothic style that looked
out on the sea and one parish building for accommodating the tourists. In year
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1933, on the central altar was built a dome with 28 meters height. In 1962, the pilgrimage church was given a status of “Basilika” by Pope John XXIII. After
that, this holy multistoried place had been enlarged again for so many times. Some priests were full assigned in this place. They held Eucharist,
novena and special celebration on May as a month of Hail Mary. The religious service was held with various languages depended on pilgrimage people need.
Thus, there were available some rooms for various languages. The priests in Velangkanni assigned for guiding the retreat and manage the school for children
in that region. Three old priests were assigned specially for confession father for the pilgrimage tourists. In 1966, a building was constructed again with a special
library called “Marian Institute.”
The picture of the rescuing of a sailboat is in appendix page 37 in picture 03.
3.2 Mother Mary – The Healing Mother in Tanjung Selamat
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