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| Basilica of the Holy Redeemer, Tiruchirappalli. holyredeemersbasilica.org |
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| .Basilica of the Holy Redeemer, Tiruchirapalli.indianetzone.com |
When the Jesuit missionaries moved over to Thiruchirapalli also called Trichy, Tamil Nadu, S. India to spread Christianity as far back as 1600s and 1700s, there were a very small population of Christians living in this area. The Jesuit carried on their missionary work through Madurai mission that included Robert de Nobili and Constanzo Beschi. These Jesuits later became scholars
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| Mary-Gagayamatha.Basilica of the Holy Redeemer, .holyredeemersbasilica.org |
of repute in Tamil, the native language spoken here. The conversion in Trichy took place in 1616. The Hindu Nayak rulers of Madurai and also Thanjavur (Tanjore) gave ample support to the Jesuits. A small Christian community comprising around 7500 chose to offer their prayer at the St. Mary's Cathedral, Trichy, instead of at Our Lady of Sorrows because the latter was under the administration of the Portuguese Padroado.
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| Basilica of the Holy Redeemer, Tiruchirapalli. holyredeemersbasilica.org |
The Basilica of the Holy Redeemer located in Palakkarai Tiruchirapalli was the old one built by Cato on a huge land donated by the local Hindu ruler, Diwan Kanjamalai Medullar. This historical church's first building was built during the British East India rule. The construction work began in 1846. As part of expansion work to meet the growing Christian community in this area, Bishop Alexis Canoe, S.J laid the foundation for a new church on 9 February, 1880 and the Basilica was consecrated on 29 June 1881 by the Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry, Msgr. François-Jean-Marie Laouënan, M.E.P. Believe it or not, it was then the largest church in the Indian sub continent.
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| Basilica of the Holy Redeemer, Tiruchirapalli. holyredeemersbasilica.org |
The basilica has excellent and impressive paintings of incidents associated with the life of Christ. In the year 1881 the 'Big Bell' was added, a contribution from British Judge Woodroofe. It is the second biggest bell in Tamil. In this Church 'Sagayamatha' - Mother of Perpetual Help Basilica is venerated. The high roofed building has a main, wide, slightly elevated aisle flaked by sub-aisles. The aim of this kind of design was to allow good passage of light. The high roof design allows better aeration considering topical climate. Cato wanted a temporary church to receive British soldiers who were on the move. Trichy also happened to be a cantonment town. The church could accommodate 2000 people at a time. In the early 1900s with arrival the railways, Trichy was a seat of very large population of Angelo Indians and many of them were employees of SIR --South Indian Railways.
Pope Benedict XVI raised the church of the Most Holy Redeemer to the dignity of a minor basilica on 12 October, 2006 on a request for elevation of the church to a Basilica presented by the Bishop of Trichy, Most Rev. Antony Devotee, while Rev. A. Gabriel was the parish priest.It is one among the five Roman Catholic minor basilicas in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India. Happy feast of John Maria Vianney, St Xavier's feast and Christmas celebrations are held with devotion and dedication here.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_the_Holy_Redeemer,_Tiruchirappalli
http://holyredeemersbasilica.org/
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