St. Francis Xaviers Church, George Town, Chennai
St Francis Xaviers Church is one of the oldest churches
in George Town area of Chennai, the capital of the South
Indian state of Tamil
Nadu.
History
Catholics of Broadway, then known as Black Town, were
going to St. Mary's Church for Sunday Mass upto 1843 AD for Sunday Mass. A
small chapel 67’ X 36' was built in 1850, at the right side of the present
church were now St. Anne's Convent is. The present church of St. Francis Xavier
was then constructed, and consecrated on 3rd December 1866. It was
made a separate unit as a Parish in 1878 and Rev. Fr. D. Doyle was appointed as
its first Parish Priest. From 1878 to 1929 was managed by 12 Diocesan Priests
in Continual succession. Rev. Fr. Ignatius Muthu, SDB, was the first Salesian
to take charge of this Parish in 1929. From then on, the Parish has been looked
after by the Salesians of Don Bosco of Chennai Province.
During this time the presbytery (1929) was built as also
the grotto in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes. Various Pious Associations were
also started, viz, Legion of Mary (1930); Sodality of Mary Help of Christians
(canonically erected on 11th Feb. 1937); St. Vincent de Paul Society (1937). A
free clinic - St. Camillus Dispensary - was started in favour of the pour in
1947 and is functioning even today. In 1950 a Parochial Board was formed to
help the Priests run the Parish.
Fr. Orfeo Mantovani was the Parish Priest from 1952 to
1963. In 1952 the facade as well as the interior of the church was renovated by
him. There was already the devotion to Mary Help of Christians in this Parish.
A monthly magazine in both Tamil and English - 'Favours and Graces Received' -
was started in 1952. Fr. Mantovani intensified the devotion to Mary Help of
Christians by consecrating the Parish to Her on 20th September 1953. In the
year 2013, 60th year of devotion which was started by Fr. Matovani
and we entered into the celebration of the graceful diamond jubilee year
(2013-2014) of the devotion to the Mary Help of Christians.
The
Church
The beauty of this church is that its fully marble right
from the statues & in the wall. The significant of this Church is that it
has the pipe organ too which is in functioning. There are some Church which
does have one, but not functioning.
Connectivity
The Church is located at about 250
meters from Mannady Police Quarters Bus Stop, 500 meters from Mannady Metro
Station, 3 Kms from Chennai Central Railway Station, 5 Kms from Egmore Railway
Station, 14 Kms from Koyambedu Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and 21 Kms from
Chennai Airport. The Church is located very close to the Mannady Metro Station.
You can proceed on foot to the church from the station. From other parts of the
city, you can take a Cabs, Auto Rickshaw, Bus, Local Trains and Metro Trains to
reach the Church.
Location
