Annai Velankanni Church

In 1999 twenty families who lived in KTC Nager attended Holy mass at Infant Jesus Church Santhinagar, the mother Parish of KTC Nagar. Occasionally, they invited priests to celebrate holy mass at their homes. Being an undeveloped area, the roads and other facilities were not good. During the rainy season, it was a challenge for the people to reach the Parish Church. Having had hardship, the people of KTC Nagar locality were craving to have a small chapel in their area. In this connection, they started to search for a small piece of Land. Though the plots were spotted-out they could not take a decision. In this perplexing situation, a pious parishioner named Ms Annamaria had a dream where an apparition of Our Lady of Velannnkanni took place. Our Holy Mother asked Annamaria if she knew the place where people would build a beautiful house for Her. Being astounded to see Our Holy Mother with her beautiful child, Ms Annamaria humbly replied, “Mother I do not know”. Our Holy Mother told her to walk with her so that She could spot Annamaria in the right place. They walked together and finally reached where the present Church was constructed. Our Holy Mother staying on top of the huge banyan tree, left Ms Annamaria with a smile, saying that all those who step in would be blessed abundantly and filled with peace that can be taken home. The vision of Our Mother, through Annamaria, was seriously considered as a sign to choose the right spot and so initiated to buy a few plots. Under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Late Joachim, the Parish Priest of Santhinagar, Prof. Muthusamy, Mr K.S. Maria Rathinasamy, Mr Lawrence, Mr David Malayappan, Mr Joseph Taylor, Mr Soosaikani, Mr Xavier and Mr Savarimuthu Michael were actively involved in the process and bought that Land. A team of interested parishioners including Asoke Miranda, Michael, Lawrence, Jochim Nathan, Christopher, Dominic, Kalangium and Simon Jegathese worked hard to build a small chapel for Velankanni Matha. Though twenty families were part of this budding church the number of families started increasing to around seventy. It was a miracle that the congregation did not wait for foreign funds, but instead tapped only local resources. The congregation never burdened the parish priest in any situation. Hence the parish priest was pleased to recommend the status of a separate Parish. The chapel collectively built was inaugurated in 2007. Over three years the Chapel became too small for the KTC Nager congregation. In 2010 foundation stone for a bigger Chapel was laid. By January 2012 the lower level brickwork and the roof were over Due to financial difficulties, work could not be continued further. By 7th September 2012 KTC Nagar was officially made a separate parish under the pastorship of Fr Rev. Fr. Seba Arulraj who returned from Canada. The First Parish Priest Fr. Seba Arulraj made study the situation for six months and coordinated with the parish committee to restart the work by 11th February 2013. Having understood the historical background, prayed and visioned the would-be massive development of the congregation the design of the church entrance was changed towards the East. By doing so everyone gets a chance to sit close to the altar and the space inside the church is extended reasonably. Each family tried their best to support the noble cause. All those who experienced the miracle of Our Mother Mary also joined joyfully in building the New Church. In 2012 the Newest parish started with 170 cities and 50 rural families. By 2018 new settlers brought in a growth of up to 300 families. Needless to say that each member of KTC Nagar Parish generously supports the cause. A Miracle Fr. Joackinm and the team decided to buy ten plots together. As the process of buying the plots was going on, one of the plot's owners was not happy about selling his piece of land. He was upset, and angry and shouted at the team and yelled, not to approach him anymore. The team was stuck to proceed further and prayed to our Holy Mother Velankanni for conversion of the heart of the Angry man. It was less than thirty days after the man who yelled at them came in contact with the team by himself and pleaded with them to take his plot. The team was rather sceptical about his move and carefully enquired about what had happened. The story goes as follows. The man admitted his wife to the hospital for delivering her first baby. After having tested the lady, the team of doctors told him about the poor health of his wife which could save only the child and not the mother. Having gone through pain and sorrow he recalled the time he had with the church team and trusting to have a miracle through our Lady of Velankanni he surrendered himself and the property as well. It was his wish that the property should be handed over to our Lady of Velankanni before his wife was gone. The following day around 2:00 PM the property was registered properly and as he was leaving, the team assured him that he would find a blessing for sure. It was unbelievable that before the stipulated time, that is, around 7:00 PM the lady gave birth to a beautiful boy child. It was a big surprise that there wasn’t any surgery or complication involved in delivering the baby. Knowing the medical miracle the family and the medical team trusted in our Lady of Velankanni.

K.T.C Nagar S.O., Palayamkottai - Tirunelveli Dt. Tamil Nadu - 627 011 - India