Sacred Heart of Jesus Church (Idaikattur Church),
Idaikattur, Sivaganga
The
Sacred Heart Church is an ancient church built in Gothic architectural style
situated at Idaikattur, in Sivagangai District of Tamilnadu. It is about 36 km
from Madurai and in close proximity to the National Highway leading to
Rameshwaram from Madurai. This unique church of the sacred heart of Jesus was
built in 1894 AD by a French missionary Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ.
This is
a replica of the Rheims Cathedral in France. Since the church was said to be
built by angels, Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ has placed 153 depictions of angels in
and around the church. He has depicted the relics of forty saints in four
elliptical shaped wooden bowls, which rest over the wooden heart in the main
altar portion.
History
Idaikattur
Church was built in 1894 AD by a French missionary, Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ and
has an interesting history, steeped in legend. This is a replica of the Rheims
Cathedral in France. The Idaikattur parish, which came into existence in 1866,
is now in the diocese of Sivagangai, Tamilnadu. At that time, the church was a
modest thatched structure. In 1866, when Fr.Ferdinand Celle, a French priest
assumed charge as its parish priest, he decided to build a bigger and proper
church in place of the thatched structure. The local poor farmers were unable
to provide funds for the construction of a church. Under this situation the
parish priest Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ went to his native country France to
collect funds for his dream project.
Meanwhile
in France, a French Anglican lady by name Mary Anne was suffering from severe
heart ailment. She met three Roman Catholic ladies who advised Mary Anne to
have Novena prayer for the sacred heart of Jesus for nine days. When doctors
abandon a patient, God's grace is the only source for curing if the patient
completely believes in him. With this conviction and confidence she had novena
prayer to the sacred heart of Jesus. After five days of prayer she got
completely cured. Immediately to show her gratitude to the sacred heart of
Jesus Mary Anne wanted to build a church.
When
Mary Anne came to know about the arrival of Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ in France
she requested him to build a church to the sacred heart of Jesus in his parish
Idaikattur in south India with a donation of 2000 francs. This is to express
her gratitude to the sacred heart of Jesus and it should be exactly like the
Rheims cathedral in France. Father accepted her request with great joy and
agreed to build a church in Idaikattur.
As per
the plan of the church, Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ marked the ground to carry out
the construction work for foundation. At the start of this work a dispute arose
between the Father and the village Hindus. By mistake the Priest had encroached
the land of Hindus 10 X 150 feet for the construction of the northern side of
the building. When this was brought to the notice of the Priest, he told them
that it was his mistake committed unknowingly and he was ready to pay the cost
for the encroached land and continued saying, "I am unable to change the
structure of the building plan as it is very apt and cannot be changed."
But the
villagers refused to donate the land since the kings of this region donated it
to them. Soon the villagers got irritated and filed a suit against the priest
in the court of law. The Priest too hired an advocate to contest in the court.
The lawyer met the Priest and told that the records are favourable to the
villagers and the priest did not have any records. So the lawyer advised the
Priest to tell a lie that the disputed land was in the position of the church
for the past twenty-six years so that the judge may give enjoyment rights in
favour of the father. But the Priest refused to tell the lie saying that he was
constructing the church for the Lord Jesus. Let his will be done. Hearing these
words from the Priest the advocate refused to contest the case and quitted as
he was not willing to be defeated.
The civil
case was prolonged for years. Then a new judge came and arranged a
commission of advocates to inspect the site in question and to study the
problem by comparing the cost of construction over the site occupied and cost
of land occupied by Priest. The leader of the commission had a dream on the
previous night of his arrival at Idaikattur. In his dreams he found a big
building being built by hundreds of angels in full swing. The bricks, tiles and
other materials were heaped nearby.
The next
day of his dream the leader of the commission reached Idaikattur. When he
looked at the church, he astonished because that was the same building that he
saw in the dream. The leader met the father and explained his dream and asked
him to continue his work since it was chosen by God himself and constructed by
Angels. Then the leader of the commission called the villagers and told them
about the dream. He asked them to donate the place occupied for the
construction of the church.
The
villagers convened a meeting and discussed the problem. They too were convinced
of God's presence in the place. Finally they passed a resolution unanimously to
donate a space of 25 X 150 feet which is beyond the church limit. Then the
Priest completed the work successfully. In fact, all the beautiful statues that
adorn Idaikattur Church have been imported from France. Fr. Ferdinand Celle SJ
has placed 153 depictions of angels in and around the church. The
statues in the church are brought from France and it dates back to 110 years
ago.
Architecture
Idaikattur
Church is an architectural marvel. It is distinctive with its French style of
Gothic architecture and its high vaulted roof supported by columns with
cantilevers. The windows are adorned with small brick pillars with hollow
flower bricks and stained glass which illustrate the events of the way of the
cross vividly and skillfully. And since the church is located in an area where
the climate is tropical, the hollow bricks have been artfully used reduce the
heat. The gothic arches are festooned with rows of beads, flowers, garlands
which are fabricated from terracotta.
The
stucco figures and the statues of saint, angels and the sacred heart of Jesus,
his foster father St. Joseph and the Holy family statue with golden gilt and
the mother of sorrows are of great beauty and symbol of ancient French art
work. Historical events of the conversion given by St.John de Britto to
Kattayadevan, son-in-law of Kilavan Sethupathi king from Hinduism to Christianity and St.Britto's
sentence of death by King Kilavan Sethupathi are depicted in
stained glass work on northern and southern entrance facade.
The main
altar of the church is more beautiful with gigantic Gothic facade of 45 feet
high with stucco figures of God the father holding his only crucified son Jesus
by his hands and the holy spirit proceeding from his chest surrounded by angels
in clouds and in the glittering gold rays of the sun around the whole work are
relief from the wall. This main altar depicts the doctrine of the Christianity
i.e., the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in one and the same clearly
shown to all people who look at it. The Gothic arches are decorated with rows
of beads, flowers, garlands. They all are in terracotta works.
Another
unusual feature of the church is the statue of Sacred Heart Jesus Christ.
Paintings and statues of Christ usually show his heart at the centre of the
chest. At Idaikattur, the statue shows the heart on the left side of the chest.
The Christ is highly embellished with golden crown and silk robes. It is
believed that there are three statues with these above-mentioned features in
the world.
To mark
the dream in which angels built the church, Fr.Ferdinand Celle placed statues
and paintings of 153 angels in and around the walls of the church. The number
also symbolizes nine (1+5+3=9) choir angels. The church houses statues of St.
Paul, St. Peter and other apostles, St. Ignatius and other saints, and guardian
angels. It contains statues of Pieta (Mother of Sorrow) on the right side of
the altar and the Holy Family and Mary as a child with her mother Anne on the
left side. All the statues and paintings are brought from France and they are
as old as the church.
Relics
of 40 saints are contained in four wooden boxes kept on the altar. The tomb of
Fr. Ferdinandus Celle stands on the right side of the altar. A 118-year-old
‘Monstrans for Eucharistic adoration’, brought from France resembles the front
elevation of the church. Friday masses are popular. On the first Friday of
every month mass and prayer service are held to mitigate all problems. On the
second and third Fridays, services are held to address problems with children,
marriage and health. Mass on the fourth Friday is dedicated to studies and
employment. Holy mass is also arranged on prior request. The church plans to construct
an exhibition room to display all donations made to the Lord, similar to the
one at Velankanni Shrine.
Pascaa
Pascaa
is a Festival that was celebrated by the Israel people in ancient days. Pascaa
means crossing past. Here in Idaikattur, this festival is being celebrated for
two days by the villagers on the next Friday and Saturday of the Good Friday,
every year, for the past 139 years. In this event, the Life history of Jesus is
staged as a drama, upto the death of Christ on the first day and upto the ascension
on the second day.
The
whole drama was scripted from Bible by a group of uneducated villagers, called
"Annaviyar" and the dialogues are never changed for these 3
generations which coincide anywhere and anytime in the common life. Based on
the ancient Tamil cultural dramas of Tamilnadu, this epic attracts tens of
thousands of people from across the country. The lyrics of the songs of the
drama which were penned by the same Annaviyar, composed with a mixture of
western and classical music before 139 years, are proved as the best classical
of the two centuries.
The artists,
numbering to a 100, are all the natives of the village, inherit the ancient
farmers of the village, who are in high positions of the society gather on this
particular dates in the village from all over the world to submit themselves to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Idaikattur. The whole programme is a citadel for
all the villagers apart from their religion and community. The 139th
year of Pascaa is scheduled on 1st and 2 nd of April, 2016. The proposal for
the Guinness record is also submitted and it is on the process.
Connectivity
Idaikattur
village is located in South India in Tamil Nadu state. It is at a distance of
37 kms towards the east of the temple city Madurai on the Madurai to Rameswaram
national highway. On Madurai-Rameswaram NH between Madurai - Manamadurai lies
‘Muthanendal’ a non-descript small village. This is the place to slow down to a
halt to reach Idaikattur.
A small
sign board will inform you that ‘Idaikattur Shrine - 1km’ just a few paces
before this point. It will help you to slow down. We have to take a 90 degree
left turn just before the bus-stop and climb up to cross river Vaigai. The
bridge is completely hidden as you approach the spot, so it is easy to miss it.
Idaikattur is just a half kilometer after crossing the river.