Holy Family Church

In the year 1880, during the glorious reign of Nizam Mahboob Ali Khan VI, a request was made to the British Government to station an army at Hyderabad, the Capital of the then Golconda Kingdom. In Course of time, a part of the battalion withdrew from there and then stationed at Trimulgherry post, to guard Nizam against his opponents. To meet the spiritual needs of the Catholic military personnel and sepoys, a church dedicated to St Patrick was erected within the fort at Trimulgherry, garrison. The military captain residing at St. Mary’s Church Secunderabad keenly felt the need to establish another church for the common people, chiefly the menials of officers and soldiers. The Chaplain of that time also supported this need. His strenuous efforts and the prayers of the faithful soon bore fruit. The Governor-General of India was kind enough to lease five and a half acres of land for the construction of a church. Thus the first Holy Family Church was built in the year 1880 near Lal Bazar. The church at its inception was evidently an improvised one, built with mud and it could accommodate about a hundred people. Rev.Fr. Vismara, who later became the bishop of Hyderabad, was the first Parish Priest. His successors were Rev.Frs. Menconi, Maggiri and Orio. God’s mercy and love began to flow and the church grew from strength to strength within a short span of 40 years. A bigger church, a second church, after the demolition of the old one, came into existence in 1920. All credit to this goes to Rev.Fr. C. Mariani who meticulously planned a huge and splendid church. The magnificent and massive construction with the towering high belfries matches the Rock of Gibraltar. The interiors were intricately decorated with ornaments, matching paints and stain glasses. The most impressive part of the church was the imposing altar which was built by using the greatest Italian architecture, a testimony of their mastery in art, architecture and excellent craftsmanship. On either side of the main altar, two side altars were erected and two beautiful life-size statues of Jesus and Mother Mary were placed in them. Music, Dramas and Devotion to Mother Mary were all part of the cultured legacy of the people of Trimulgherry. The devotion to Mother Mary grew so much in this parish that in 1921 a nice little grotto was built to honour her. Religious celebrations, such as Christmas, New year and the solemn spell of Holy week, followed by Easter, united families, boosted their faith and gave a tremendous scope to reform and brought about a sea change in their lives. The most revered and valuable collections of the past are the four magnificent bells and the attractive procession car brought from Italy dating back to 1921 still devotedly used even to this day on festive occasions. Recently, the procession car has been renovated and preserved as an antique. Along with the new church which catered to the spiritual needs of the community, a small school and a convent too came into existence to cater to the educational, social and all-round development of the community under the able guidance and foresight of then Parish Priest Rev. Fr. C. Mariani. On the invitation of the Parish Priest, the sisters of St. Francis convent from Secunderabad who are known for their missionary zeal generously responded to the needs of the Tamil congregation and sent a small team of dedicated Tamil nuns (sagodharies) who began to teach and catechise the poor children of the locality from 1925 onwards. All the Parish Priests from Rev. Fr. Vismara to Rev.Fr. C. Mariani were Italian missionaries. They devoted their entire life propagating the Christian faith and uplifting the downtrodden people of the community. They learnt the language of the people and preached sermons in Tamil. The missionary zeal, dedication and service to the people shown by Rev.Fr. Vismara was recognised, and he was appointed as the first Bishop of Hyderabad province. From then on, the mantle of the parish fell on a chain of dedicated and devoted priests like Rev. Fr. B. Marianna, who was the first Telugu priest of the Parish. His successor was Rev.Fr. M. Ignatius. Then Rev. Fr. Joseph D’Souza who took over as the Parish Priest felt the need for a boy’s school. He was the pioneer to start a school with a humble beginning and this was named as Holy Family School for boys. Later Rev.Fr. Benny succeeded him. Rev.Fr. U.J. Chinnappa Reddy, the Parish Priest wanted a spacious structure for the school. He laid the foundation for the centre part of the school which was earlier named as Holy Family School for boys. The new school building was named as St. Joseph’s School in the year1980. Afterwards Rev.Fr. Albert came as a Parish Priest. Rev.Fr. Kulandai Swamy took over as principal. He worked tirelessly to construct the classrooms and upgrade St. Joseph’s school. It began to provide quality education to the children from far and near. At present, the school has 1800 students on its rolls. Fr. Kulandai Swamy took the initiative to start an Intermediate College in the campus named as St. Joseph’s Junior college. Fathers Dhanraj, Benny, Chinnappa Reddy, Albert, Augustine, Y.M. Joseph, Henry D’Souza and Paneer Selvam tirelessly worked for the sustenance and growth of the parish. As time passed by, due to the growth and development of the community and to accommodate the larger congregation of the parishioners, the age-old Italian architectural church was demolished and a new church (a third one) was built in 1991-1992 by Fr. Paneer Selvam. Most Rev. Dr. S. Arulappa, the then Archbishop of Hyderabad, contributed generously for the construction of the new church. The other outstanding contributions came from the parishioners themselves. Each family, whether rich or poor, donated generously two or three salaries for the construction of the church. ​After Rev.Fr. Paneer Selvam, the immediate successor Rev.Fr. Dominic Savio constructed the Belltower. Fr. Andrew Raj spared no efforts to inculcate Christian values and Catholic faith to the very religious and pious catholic community of Trimulgherry. Rev.Fr. Melchizedek Kennedy, who succeeded after he had constructed the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. Fr. Mallavarapu Sundar Rao built half of the first floor of the presbytery. Fr. Alex was the next Parish Priest. He constructed the other half of the presbytery. And Fr. U.J. Chinnappa Reddy was the twenty-second Parish Priest of the Holy Family Church and finally Fr. Valentine D’ Mello took over as successor and continues to be the Parish Priest to this day. Substations with Chapel: S.P Colony - Mary Help of Christians Lal Bazar - St. Rock's Central Battery - Our Lady of Lourdes Trimulgherry - St. Anthony's Trimulgherry - St. Theresa's Gunrock - Mount Carmel Indira Nagar - Our Lady of Good Health

S.C.B 7-02-208, Lal Bazaar X Road, Trimulgherry, Secunderabad, Telangana - 500 015 - India