SHRINE VELANKANNI, VELANKANNI CHURCHShrine Velankanni is Our lady of Good Health, popularly called "Our Lady of Vailankanni" is in the small town of Vailankanni located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is located in India at 150 miles south of Madras in Tamil Nadu and 5 miles south of Nagapattinam.
This Holy place is chosen by Our lady chose to bestow her miracles to mankind. A physically powerful spoken tradition attests to Our Lady’s apparitions at Vailankanni(Velankanni). The belief is built around the following three significant events happened in the place of Velankanni:
First Event
A Hindu boy carry milk and supply to different houses in velankanni, one day Our Lady with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk to a customer’s home. On his way he rested under a Banyan tree near a pond (Tank), Our Lady appeared to him and asked for milk for her Son and the boy gave her the milk with out hesitating. On reaching the customers home the boy apologized for his lateness and for the milk, but to his inspection the boy & customer found the full pot of milk. And realized the something miracle happened to him. And the boy and the man both eagerly wanted to see the place where the apparition occurred. When they reached the Pond, Our Lady appeared once again.
On learning that it was Our Lady who appeared to the boy, the residents of the local Catholic community became ecstatic. The tank where the apparition took place is called "Matha Kulam" or Our Lady’s tank.
Second Event
Our Lady appeared again second time, this time to a crippled boy who was selling buttermilk on the outskirts of the same village of Vailankanni. She asked him for buttermilk for her infant Son and the boy compiled. Our Lady asked the boy to inform a certain wealthy Catholic man in the nearby town of Nagapattinam of her appearance. Not realizing that his crippled leg was miraculously cured by Our Lady, the boy rose up and began his journey. The wealthy man was born blind, also had a vision the previous night in which Our Lady asked him to build a chapel for her. Together, the man and the boy returned to the site of the miracle.
This time Our Lady appeared to both. The man erected a thatched chapel for Our Lady at the site of Her second appearance. This chapel became a holy place of veneration to Our Blesses mother and She was called henceforth, Mother of Good Health ("Arokia Matha").
Third Event
A few years later, Our Merciful Mother rescued a few Portuguese merchant sailors from a violent storm, which wrecked their ship. When the merchants reached the shore of Vailankanni they were taken by local fisherman to the thatched chapel. To give thanks and pay tribute to Our Lady, they built a small permanent chapel on their return trip. On subsequent visits they improved on it. The merchants dedicated the chapel to Our Lady on September 8th to celebrate the feast of her nativity and to mark the date of their safe landing to Vailankanni.
Today, the celebration of this feast is an annual festival which lasts for 9 days and draws more than a million and a half pilgrims. Vailankanni attracts more pilgrims than any other sacred shrine in India. Not only do multitudes of Catholic travel there throughout the year but many non-Christians visit as well. Hundreds of miraculous cures are reported every year.
