St Mary's Co-Cathedral, George Town – History
St Mary's Co-Cathedral was built in 1658 and was rebuilt
in 1692. The church was damaged during the French occupation of Madras, and was
again rebuilt in 1775 on a modest scale. At last, the church was enlarged in
1785. According to records, the church was constructed by a French Capuchin
Father Ephrem de Nevers, the First Missionary of Madras who put up "the
open Pandal Chapel" in Armenian Street in 1658. The structure, however,
did not survive for long and had to be reconstructed in 1692. The church
was renovated in 1775 and 1785. The Madras Catholic Directory makes mention of
the church of St. Mary of Angels in 1857, with a Catholic population of 8,000,
with the neighboring St. Francis Xavier’s chapel as its substation.
St. Mary’s first served as the Church of the Prefects of
the Capuchin Missions at Madras and later became the Church of the Vicariate
Apostolic of Madras in 1834. In execution of the Papal Bull “Humanae Salutis
Auctor” of September 1, 1886. His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, by an “Apostolic
Brief” (25-11-1886) promoted the Vicar Apostolic of Madras, Dr. Joseph Colgan,
to the Archiepiscopal See of Madras and the Church of St. Mary’s of the Angels
was raised to the dignity of the Cathedral Church.
Finally, when the Archdiocese of Madras and the Diocese
of Mylapore were combined together into a new Ecclesiastical Unit, an Apostolic
Constitution, “ExPimaevae Eccesiae.” was issued on December 13, 1952, forming
the new Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore. St. Thomas Cathedral, Mylapore, was
assigned as the Cathedral of the new Archdiocese and St. Mary of Angels as the
Co-Cathedral. Now the Catholic population has come down to 235 parishioners –
with 43 families.
Alterations:
St. Mary’s church, though rich in history and tradition,
is a simple structure, without any architectural pretensions. In 1871, Fr.
Ferdinando sought permission to build a splendid structure in its place. However,
the engineer questioned the property of raising a high structure in the
proximity of the Fort. Hence, Rev. Fr. Ferdinando had to be content with making
some minor alterations.
In 1931, Archbishop Mederlet SDB, without interfering
with the façade of the church raised the walls of the middle aisle by four feet
and replaced the old roof with a new concrete roof. A little later, Dr. Louis
Mathias, SDB, Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, carried out extensive repairs. In
1991, Rev. Fr. N.A. Joseph SDB, constructed a small hall in front of St.
Antony’s altar, attached to the church, for the convenience of the thousands of
devotees that flock to the shrine particularly on Tuesdays.
The main façade of the Shrine was lined with polished
granite in 2000, when Fr. Varuvel Jeromedhas SDB, was pastor, without tampering
much with the original architectural design. Rev. Fr. Arokiasamy Tharsius SDB,
the present pastor, replaced the tiled-flooring of the hall in front of the
altar of St. Antony and the sanctuary around the main altar with white tiles in
2001. In 2006, he further embellished the background of the main altar with a
new exquisite design.
Congresses
& Synods:
St. Mary’s Co-Cathedral shared the honour of hosting the
First Marian Congress in 1921 and National Eucharistic Congress in 1937 with
the St. Thomas Cathedral, Mylapore. The first Provincial Council of the
Archdiocese of Madras was held at St. Mary’s Cathedral on February 18, 1894.
The Cathedral has also witnessed three Diocesan Synods including the
significant Synod of 1942, that marked the third centenary of the arrival of
the Capuchins in Madras and the fourth centenary of the arrival of St. Francis
Xavier, the second Apostle of India, in Goa. St. Mary’s Co-Cathedral has had
the privilege of witnessing the concentration of Vicar Apostolics, Bishops and
Archbishops. The mortal remains of many eminent Vicar Apostolics and
Archbishops are interred here.
Records show that the Dedication of St. Mary’s was first
celebrated on 8 October 1861 and continued ever since. The Cathedral had an
unbroken succession Pastors since Fr. Ephraim de Nevers, the founder, till
today. Fr. Arokiasamy Tharsius being his present successor. After changing many
hands, the shrine was finally handed over to the Salesians of Don Bosco in
1928, with Reg. Mgr. Mora, as the first Salesian Pastor. Ever since the
Salesian Fathers have been taking care of the shrine. St. Mary’s Co-cathedral
was canonically raised to the status of an Archdiocesan Shrine by Most Rev. Dr.
D.M. Chinnappa, SDB, DD, Ph. D, the Archbishop of Madras Mylapore, on September
8, 2005.
History of
Statue of St. Antony:
St. Antony is certainly one of the most popular and
loved saints of the Church. All over the world, St. Antony attracts devotees
not only from Christians but other faiths also. There is an interesting story
behind the miraculous statue of St. Antony venerated at St. Mary’s
Co-Cathedral. It is believed that in 1929, a group of Goan sailors were caught
in a storm that endangered their life. In great distress on the high seas, they
made a pledge that, if they were rescued, they would present a statue of St.
Antony to the nearest church from their point of landing. They were
miraculously saved and true to their promise they commissioned some artists in
Goa to make the statue.
“Why is this statue of St. Antony wearing a beard”? ask
people, who have seen other statues or pictures of St. Antony clean shaven.
Presumably because artists who made the statue had no models for inspiration and
since all the Franciscan Missionaries they had seen wore beards, they assumed
St. Antony too to be bearded. The statue was duly presented to the Parish
Priest of St. Mary’s Cathedral. The Parish priest gave the statue to the
Catechist of Park Town parish, saying that there was no place for the statue in
the Cathedral. The Catechist placed the statue on a side altar and forgot about
it.
Later on, the statue was removed and placed in the
chapel of St. Patrick’s cemetery. Gradually, people began to notice the
presence of the statue at the cemetery and few of them began to go there to
pray before the statue of St. Antony. The number of devotees began to increase
day by day as rumors of miracles spread. The church authorities closed an eye
over the devotion until there was a fight between the cemetery watchman and the
Catechist of Park Town Parish over the money collected there. It was brought to
the notice of the Archbishop, His Grace Archbishop Louis Mathias, who ordered the
Asst. Parish Priest of St. Mary’s, Rev. Fr. Schupp, to remove the statue from
the cemetery and bring it to the parish house.
The devotees who used to visit St. Antony’s statue at
St. Patrick’s Cemetery Chapel, came to the Cathedral searching for their favourite
saint. Not finding it there, they went to V. Rev. Fr. Mora, SDB, the Vicar
General, requesting him to reinstate the statue in St. Mary’s Church. Their
request was granted and the statue was brought back to St. Mary’s Co-Cathedral.
The devotion of St. Antony and veneration for this particular statue, “the
bearded St. Antony” spread like wild fire.
People of all faiths flocked to St. Antony with their
prayers and petitions especially on Tuesdays, a day dedicated to the saint. The
devotion continues to grow to this day. Countless number of his faithful
devotees bears witness to the miracles and wonders their beloved saint works in
response to their prayers. Apart from the devotion of St. Antony, devotion to
Our Lady of Perpetual Help also flourished side by side at St. Mary’s. The
Co-Cathedral regularly conducts Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help twice a
week – on Wednesdays in English and on Saturdays in Tamil. Both novenas are
well-attended by the faithful.