500 YEARS OF OUR LADY OF LIGHT
SHIRNE HISTORY
Portuguese sailors were pioneers in discovering the sea route to many countries particularly to India after the discovery of sea route by Vasco da Gama in the year 1498. On one occasion the Portuguese visited India and from here they travelled still further to Malacca in the East. The Portuguese merchants and sailors being Catholics had missionary
priests accompanying them to administer to their spiritual needs
On the 9th March 1500, the sailors and merchants took Franciscan missionaries along with them under the leadership of Fr. Pedro Alvares Cabral and started sailing from Lisbon in Portugal to India. The merchants reached the western coast of India particularly Cochin & Goa before heading towards the East, Malacca for commercial trading. As days passed by their business flourished and soon they built a port called “Abmosa” in 1511, which stands till date as a tourist spot in Malacca. The route from Cochin to Malacca was long and so they sought for a resting place in the Eastern Coast of India. They sailed from Cape-Comerin towards the eastern coast passing through Nagapattinam where they discovered an estuary and a big lake in Pulicat. This made it easy for them to bring their merchant ships to the shore using the lake as the natural harbor. One day as they were traveling from Malacca to Lisbon via Pulicat (their resting place) a hurricane tossed them up in mid sea. They were almost carried 35 kilometers to the southern side of Pulicat, where they were stranded with no estuary or lake close by. The Portuguese sailors along with the missionary priests prayed fervently to Mother Mary to save them. All of a sudden a light appeared before them. They were amazed and set their ship towards the light and reached the seashore of Mylapore. They did so, without knowing then or sometime later, that they had landed at the ruins of “Bethuma” (House of St.Thomas). They attempted on their landing to approach the light, it guided them inland over an empty stretch of ground into a dense forest, and then the light vanished. To honor and thank Mother Mary for saving them from this peril, Fr. Pedro Alvares and other Friars built a church, on that very spot, in 1516 known as “OUR LADY OF LIGHT”. For many years this church has been called as Kattu koil (JungleChurch) in Tamil by the local people till now. Now there no longer exists a forest, but a wealthy residential locality in the city of Madras, still known as “LUZ” after “Nossa Senhora da Luz” – Our Lady of Light. Luz is a Portuguese word meaning Light. The Luz church is to the west of the Cathedral Basilica of St.Thomas in Santhome-Mylapore, distanced by a mile, facing each other. In the southern wall of the Luz Church there is an ancient stone engraved in Portuguese which reads - “FRE PEDRO DA ATOUGIA RELIGIOSO OBSERVANTE DE S.FRANCISCO EDIFICOU ESTA IGREJA DE NOSSA SENHORA DA LUZ EM 1516” meaning “Fre Pedro Da Atougia, a religious of the observance of St.Francis built this church of our lady of light in the year 1516”
The Luz church was from its very origin a Franciscan church. There is no doubt about it because of the symbol of Franciscan Missionaries which still exists on the roof and on the main altar. The religious in charge of the church were of the branch of “Observance” and not the “Capuchins”. The church suffered damage during the occupation by the Golconda forces from 1662 for about eleven years and further damages were caused when the Hyder Ali forces which plundered Santhome in 1780 – 1782. There were many wars and invasions by the petty kings in South India and yet the church withstood and stands strong even now. Even the forces of the East India Company occupied the Luz residence although we cannot establish how long they had occupied it. This is the sad part of the Luz Church. The last Franciscan to function in the Luz church was Fr. Francisco das Dores, who was the Commissioner General of the same Order in the Coromandel Coast and parish priest of the Luz Church. He died on the 16th June 1847 and his tomb stone still exists in the church premises. Here ended the period of the Franciscans and later on the Luz Church was administered by the Diocesan Clergy. The diocese of Mylapore celebrated in 1916 the fourth centenary of the Luz church in a very grand manner. The Church has undergone many constructive repairs and renovation works and other alterations. And yet this Church stands as a testimony of faith and hope of the local people and the generations to come. This Ancient church was raised to the status of a Shrine on 15th August 2010. Church of Our Lady of Light. No.156, Luz Church Road, Luz, Mylapore, Chennai – 600 004. INDIA.
+ 91 – (044) – 24992568.
