Queenship of Mary Church, Chintadripet, Chennai
Queenship of Mary Church is located at Chintadripet,
a well-known locality in Chennai City in Tamil Nadu. The Queenship of
Mary Church was earlier known as St. Lazarus Church.
History
The Queenship of Mary Church, then known as St. Lazarus
Church was erected in Madras (now Chennai), near the Ripon
Building and the Corporation of Madras. Originally, St.
Lazarus was not meant to be a parish church. It was a chapel attached to St.
Anthony’s Church of Pudupet. The earliest references to this church, as a
separate ecclesiastical unit, are from 1904, when it was raised to the status
of a parochial church with the parish priest residing in Pudupet.
On the transfer of the spiritual jurisdiction in 1929
and division of Madras by the river Cooum, Madras and Mylapore became like two
different cities. The churches on the eastern bank of the river were to be
taken over by the Mylapore Diocese and those on the western side from part of
the Archdiocese of Madras. While therefore Mylapore handed over one of the best
city churches, Sacred Heart of Egmore, Mylapore got in return St. Lazarus of
Chintadripet with St. Antony’s of Narasingapuram, located on Ritchie's Street,
close to Mount Road.
There is a belief that St. Francis Xavier visited this
parish. Now though originally this Parish was dedicated to St. Lazarus,
after the Second Vatican Council, it was rededicated to the Queenship of Mary
on 18th December 1955, on the recommendations of the Sacred
Congregation of Rites, Vatican City. The Most Holy and Miraculous Mother
of Chintadripet is said to have revealed herself to a poor Hindu lady, Mrs.
Devi, who lived in the slum adjacent to the church, at 11:00 am, on 14 August
2007.
Connectivity
The Church is located at about 300 meters from Chintadripet
Potti Kadai Bus Stop, 400 meters from Chintadripet Market Bus Stop, 1 Km from Chintadripet
Railway Station, 1 Km from Egmore Railway Station, 2.5 Kms from Egmore Metro Station,
2 Kms from Chennai Central Metro Station, 4 Kms from Chennai Central Railway
Station, 12 Kms from Koyambedu Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and 19 Kms from
Chennai Airport. The Church is situated near to Chintadripet Railway Station
and Chintadripet Park. Chintadripet is well connected to the rest of Chennai by
Bus and Train facilities.
Location