St. Antony's Church, Uvari, Thirunelveli
St.
Antony's Church is located at Uvari, a fishing hamlet in Thirunelveli District
of Tamilnadu. Uvari is the only place in Tamilnadu that has a St. Antony's
church beside the sea. The St. Anatomy’s Church in Uvari is Geographically
Positioned at 8.275601, 77.890567 or 8°16'32.2"N 77°53'26.0"E. According
to ancient Tamil history, people were called Bharathar's of the Neithal (ocean) land. Uvari's historical name
was Obeer Pattanam which was ruled by the Pandiyan dynasty, before they were
converted by Portuguese. (Example: for the same reason fish symbol kept on
Pandya's flag.
More
recently, in the 1530s, Portuguese and Spanish missionaries from Goa had a strong
influence when the Bharathars converted to Christianity as a Roman Catholic's. The priests, acting as
godfathers, gave surnames such as Fernando to all Roman Catholic Bharathars as
they were converted by the Portuguese. According to local myths, a crew of a
Portuguese ship which sailed near Uvari about 450 years ago contracted cholera. In an attempt to avert death, the ship's carpenter
carved an image of Saint Antony
of Padua from a block of
wood. Soon after, the entire crew regained its health.
When the
ship docked at Uvari, the sailors set up the statue inside a hut in the village.
In the 1940s, the villagers built a church with the original statue of St.
Anthony holding the Infant Jesus in his hand, on the altar. St Anthony is said
to perform many miracles daily, therefore church was upgraded to shrine. Uvari
is visited by pilgrims of all religions from all over South India. St Anthony's
has two important festivals every year.
From
June 1 to 13, Uvari is the venue for a special local festival and thousands of
people from the neighborhood attend. The other festival occurs in the last week
of January or the first week of February. It starts three Sundays before Ash
Wednesday and lasts for 13 days. A
blessed oil using neem is given for the devotees. Devotees apply that oil in
their head and some drink it. They believe their sickness will be cured. In
Hindu temples also neem Theertham is given.
Uvari is
located at about 8 Kms from Thisayanvilai, 40 Kms from Nanguneri, 70 Kms from
Thirunelveli, 78 Kms from Thoothukudi, 136 Kms from Thiruvananthapuram and 220
Kms from Madurai. Nearest Railway Station is located Nanguneri. Nearest Airport
is located at Thiruvananthapuram, Thoothukudi and Madurai.
