Our Lady of Snows Church, Maravankudieruppu,
Kanyakumari
Our Lady
of Snows Church is located at Maravankudieruppu near Nagercoil in Kanyakumari
District of Tamilnadu. The Church is located at the center of the Village. The
shrine refers to the basilica of Saint
Mary Major on the Esquiline
Hill in Rome, where legend says that snow fell in the summer time.
Falling under the Catholic Church's jurisdiction of Kottar Diocese, this
is an individual parish. There are about 1200 Catholic families in the
parish, with a population of over 5,000.
The
current church was built in the late 1950s by the local population in a
community effort, including women and children, mostly during the weekends. The
whole structure of the Church is supported by seven concrete arches, without
any no pillars. The door frames are made from stone. In times where the
churches in India were built with donations from Europe, this church was solely
built by the contributions from the parishioners.
Controversy
A
proposal was brought in by the church parish council to demolish the existing
one and construct the one with a budget of appx 2 Million USD. Those who oppose
this are of the contention that this the existing structure is an engineering
marvel, with no pillars, and of the view to protect the heritage. Their claim
to leave the as such, and build the new one nearby. On November 2011, the civil
patrons of the church got a stay order from the district court, to stop
demolishing the church, citing its architectural values. The plan is further
dropped, when the Parish Priest, who was supposed to bring in a major share of
donations from Germany, announced bluntly in a Sunday Mass, about his in
inability to find any donors during his visit abroad.
17
February 2012 is observed as a 'Black Day', as on that day of 2012, few vandals
and hooligans demolished the altar and removed the statues & shut the church
doors permanently, despite the court stay order. Now the whole issue is pending
before the High Court of Madurai Bench. On 23 August 2012, 2:00AM, the entire
Southern wall & the arch pillars of the church were demolished by a gang of
masked hooligans armed with axes/knives by a bulldozer. FIR was registered
against 20 persons, all belonging to the parish, mainly consisting of Parish
Council members. On Sept 13, parishioners met Bishop, and the Bishop condemned
this activity.
Festivals
New
Year, Christmas, Easter
and the ten-day Church festival to Our
Lady of Snows in August are the
most celebrated holidays and festivals. Community Dining (Aasanam) is also an
important day in the year, when all the parishioners pool their resources, cook
in the church ground and enjoy a common meal.
Connectivity
The
Church is located at about 5 Kms from Nagercoil, 4 Kms from Nagercoil Bus Stand
and 4 Kms from Nagercoil Railway Station. Nagercoil is located at about 21 Kms
from Kanyakumari, 13 Kms from Thuckalay, 23 Kms from Colachel, 27 Kms from Marthandam,
12 Kms from Padmanabhapuram, 27 Kms from Thiruvattaru and 72 Kms from
Thiruvananthapuram. Adequate rail and road facilities are available to reach
Nagercoil from all parts of the state. Nearest Railway Station is located
at Nagercoil and Nearest Airport is located at Thiruvananthapuram.
