St. Antony's Church

HISTORY OF ST ANTHONY'S CHURCH, PUDUPET. June 13, the world celebrates the feast of Saint Anthony - a well-known scholar of the Catholic Church and a popular saint. The roots of St Anthony’s Church go back to many centuries, to a time soon after the English set up shop in what is now Fort St. George. From the year 1642 to 1832, the Capuchin priests ministered to the needs of the Catholic community in Pudupet area. In 1873, Pudupet was chosen to be a parish community. The foundation stone for the church was laid on 5th January 1921. The first parish established in honour of St. Antony in Chennai. The Church was constructed and consecrated on 14th September 1927. Now, there was a small group of poor Anglo-Indians in this zone and the parish priest asked the Bishop’s help for their education. Word went out to the Presentation nuns who were working in Vepery. A few nuns were deputed to the pudupet parish school. This school was said to be alongside the church - was it on what we now call 1st Street? Some years later, the nuns got a piece of land closely where the present school stands today. The school started formally in 1910, celebrated its centenary in 2010. The renovation of the present Church was undertaken and completed on 14th September 2002.

St. Antony's Church, Marshall's Road, Pudupet - Chennai - 600 002 Tamilnadu - India