Devotees throng St Mary's Feast

Devotees throng St Mary's Feast

For the next one week, all roads in Shivajinagar lead to the annual St Mary's Feast at the St Mary's Basilica. The festival began on Tuesday and will culminate with a grand procession on Sep 8, the day on which the Roman Catholic Church the world over rejoices in the birth of Mother Mary.

As every year, lakhs of people from all over the city and State visit this church to take part in this dazzling spectacle.

The celebrations here are unique because people of all faiths from different parts of Karnataka and neighbouring areas of Tamil Nadu come to offer worship, mostly clad in saffron clothes.

A nine-day Novena is held from August 30 till September 7. Holy Masses are offered in Kannada, English and Tamil from 5.30 a.m. till 8.30 p.m. Special prayers are held each evening at the stage with the flag post. People gather around the flag with the image of Mother Mary.

On September 3, the church will celebrate the 124th year of its consecration with mass marriages of needy couples at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. with the ceremony conducted in Kannada and Tamil. The same afternoon, there will be two thanksgiving masses for couples who have been married for 50 years. On September 5, a special mass will be offered for the sick followed by healing services for the ailing and handicapped.

On the day of the feast, there will be two Eucharistic Celebrations at the Russell Market Square at 8 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. In the evening, the decorated chariot with the image of Mother Mary will start from the church and go through Meenakshi Koil Street, Shivaji Circle, Shivaji Road, Broadway, F. Noronha Road and return to the church, drawn and accompanied by devotees. The worshippers refer to Mother Mary enshrined there as Arogya Mathe or Mother of Health.

St. Mary's Basilica can trace its origins to the early colonial days when the area was known as Bili Akki Palli or simply, Blackpalli. The church was then called "Kaanike Mathe Devalaya" or Our Lady of Presentation and the present structure dates back to 1882. Established by a French missionary Abbe Dubois in 1811, St.Mary's church is the only church in Karnataka state to be elevated to the status of a minor Basilica.

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