Our Lady of Seven Dolours Church, Vellicode

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OUR LADY OF SEVEN DOLOURS CHURCH, VELLICODE

          Vellicode is a village in the Kanyakumari District of the Tamil Nadu State, India. It is situated about 50 km south of Trivandrum, or 22 km north of Nagercoil in the National Highway - 47 (NH-47).

        The Our Lady of Seven Dolours Church, Vellicode is a  church constructed with granite stones at the top of a big rock in Vellicode.
             The central portion of this granite church stands on 14 arches. There are two windows above every arch for lighting and ventilation.  There are ten stone pillars in the middle. Besides, four pillars  remain attached to the walls. 
       Each stone pillar stands on a big piece of stone. The  circumference of this base stone is 3 metre. There are  eight major faces and equal number of minor faces to each stone. The height of this single piece of stone is 0. 85 metre. 

Base Stone

         Each door frame is made of single piece of stone. Each step also is made of single piece  of stone. 

         There is a big ground in front of the church.

The school ground in front of the church.

       No wonder -among the churches- it is the Taj Mahal of this region. 

          The deity is a 0.7 metre tall beautiful wooden statue. It is east facing.

          There exists a belief that the deity in the above church grants knowledge and education to the seekers of knowledge. In fact, the preponderance of the educated people in this village is greater than that in other catholic villages of the Kanyakumari District. There are many post-graduates, doctors, engineers and government employees.  Late Rt. Rev. R.Anony Muthu, Bishop of Vellore, was a native of Vellicode. It has generated four priests and several nuns. 
       In 2010, many beneficiaries wanted to construct a big concrete church after demolishing the present one. It did not materialize. Many consider it as a miracle.

          The 10- day annual festival starts on the second Friday of September. In this year, the festival started on 9 September 2011 and ended on 18 September 2011.
            The church cars - called chapparams- are taken in procession on  the last day morning and on the  night of the penultimate day.
       This church is worth a visit.

         
 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2011 FESTIVAL


      There were some memorable speeches in the 2011 annual festival. 
      Rev. Fr. Y. Xavier on 15 September 2011 pointed out that Jesus Christ was born to Virgin Mary at a time when women were stoned to death for their sexual offences.  It may be noted that the story behind Kumara Swamy Temple is that Valli had been born in a family of Kuravar Caste as given in Chapter 2.

          On 16 September 2011, Rev. Fr. Leo Alex mentioned that the father of Jesus Christ was a carpenter, and the latter used to help the former. Further, he emphasized that all Disciples of Christ were workers like fishermen, farmers. He said certain things with the meaning that the farmers must get, say, Re. 100/- for every cucumber produced by him. He deplored that  due to the marketing conditions they did not get even Re. 1/-. He added that the farmers and workers must be duly compensated by the society so that they too would enjoy all amenities just like any other people.

          He, further, said that the red-flag stood for the amelioration of the living standards of the workers. Actually, this flag – in India - exploits them.

          On 18 September 2011, Rev. Fr. Dhen Singh said that man - as a rule - gets maximum pain from his loved ones- father  from his son and vice versa. Despite this, he said, that man is to love and to be loved.


Note: History of Vellicode is given in the blog: www.sabarimuthu-vellicode.blogspot.com