Maria Schnee basilica (Thoothukudi)
The Basilica Maria Schnee ( Portuguese Nossa Senhora das Neves , English Our Lady of Snows Basilica ) is a Roman Catholic church in Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) in the district of the same name in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu . The church of the diocese of Tuticorin is consecrated under the invocation of Our Lady of the Snow of the Mother of God and has the title of a minor basilica .
history
The church goes back to the conversion of the Tamil-speaking Paravar in the 16th century, with which the second Christianization in India after the Thomas Christians began. The Portuguese came to the pearl fishing coast on the southern tip of India in 1525 . In a violent conflict over fishing rights with the Arabs and Muslim Paravar, the Hindu Paravar sought support from the Portuguese in 1532. In 1535 the Portuguese drove the Arabs under Pedro Vaz, and in return, in addition to paying tribute for pearl fishing, the Paravar converted from Hinduism to Christianity in 1535/36 with 22 villages. In Thoothukudi, a church dedicated to the apostle Peter was built near the coast in 1538 . The missionary Franz Xavier visited the New Christians and the Petrine Church from Goa in 1542 and organized the catechism and Christian life in the Paravar congregations. During this time the number of Christians is said to have grown to 40,000. Franz Xaver is said to have arranged for the delivery of the statue of Maria Schnee from the Philippines, which was erected in the Jesuit Church of St. Paul after his death in 1555.
A new Jesuit church was built on the site of the old Petruskirche. This was consecrated on the feast of Maria Schnee on August 5, 1582 by the Bishop of Cochin Mateus de Medina. After the statue of the Virgin was erected, its name was transferred to the Marienkirche as patronage over time. In 1658 the Dutch conquered Thoothukudi, drove out the Jesuits and in 1695 destroyed the church. Father Vigilius Mansi, SJ, built today's single-nave church with transept in 1713 and re-erected the statue that was hidden in the meantime. After the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773, priests from Goa took over the leadership of the church. When the church celebrated the 400th anniversary of its original consecration in 1982, Pope John Paul II raised it to the rank of minor basilica.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Basilica Maria Schnee on gcatholic.org
- ↑ a b Sangkeun Kim: Strange names of God. P. 103 ff (English)
- ↑ History of the Church on snowsbasilca.com (English)
- ^ Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows, Tuticorin . In: Jesuit Institutions in India
Coordinates: 8 ° 47 '58 " N , 78 ° 9' 23" E