Milagres Church is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Our Lady of
Miracles, situated in the heart of Mangalore city. Established in the year 1680
by Bishop Thomas de Castro, it is one of the oldest churches in South Kanara or Dakshina Kannada as it is known.
While the Church itself is a magnificent piece of art; there’s more to it than
just that; it is a place where Mother Mary’s devotees come from far and near to
venerate her. This Church in the heart of the city stands tall; if it does so
it is because of the industrious nature of its past parishioners and the Goan,
European and Mangalorean priests who have rendered unstinting service to the church in over 339 years of its existence....
Mangalore has a substantial Roman
Catholic population and Mangalore occupied a prominent place in the church
administration in the 17th century. However, the Goan Catholics who
migrated to Canara and most of the migrant priests returned to Goa when the
Portuguese withdrew from the region. In 1658, a Carmelite missionary, Fr
Vincento Maria de Santa Catharina visited Canara and reported to Rome the
miserable state of Christianity in the region. The Vatican came to the aid of
the Canara Christians and appointed Bishop Thomas de Castro as the Vicar
Apostolic of Canara and Malabar in 1674. He arrived in Mangalore in 1677, and
received a piece of land from Keladi Queen Chennamma as gift. After the church
was constructed in 1680, he took up residency in the quarters. Bishop de Castro
died on 16 July 1684, and his remains were buried in the south eastern corner
of the cemetery. The grave still exists with a bronze slab, next to the St
Monica Chapel.
After the death of the Queen Chennamma,
the land was taken back by her successor, King Basavappa. In 1715, a local
priest Fr Pinto secured the land back again from Somashekara II. His nephew Fr
Alfred Pinto who succeeded him, built a new church at the present site in 1756.
In 1763, Canara came under the control of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan in
1782. It is said, Tipu was convinced that Christians had supported the British; believing that the local Christian had conspired against him along with British during the
second Anglo-Mysore War, Tipu captured around 60,000 Mangalorean Catholics on
Ash Wednesday, on 24 February 1784 and herded them to his capital at
Srirangapatanam and kept them prisoners. He also destroyed 27 churches
including Milagres Church in anger and retaliation.
Present structure:
After Tipu Sultan was
killed by the British during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War on 4 May 1799, the
Mangalorean Catholics were freed from captivity and returned to Mangalore.
Among the returnees was a baker, Lawrence Bello, who built a chapel to replace
the demolished church on the same site at the cost of Rupees 400. Fr Mendez, the
Vicar Apostolic secured the necessary furniture, and together with Tipu’s
former Munshi Salvador Pinto, raised funds and obtained a grant of Rs 600 from
the government to build the church. He laid the foundation stone for a new
spacious church in 1811. In 1911 the facade of the church collapsed following
which the then incumbent Parish priest Fr Frank Periera erected the present
church with Fr Dimanti SJ as the architect. A portico was added later to the
structure. Today though old, Milagres church stands tall reminding all of the tumultuous history and growth of the city of Mangalore. It is a prominent structure in Mangalore
though many tall buildings have come up around, that reminds you of the
struggle of the people to keep their faith live against various odds. It's a place to visit for devotees and tourists to see the old church standing among modern structures with devout Christians proud of it.
Also read: * Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church, Goa
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| Vellore Fort, Tamilnadu, India |
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