Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine – Villianur

Contact Details:

Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine
Villianur
Pondicherry
Pin : 605 110,
Tel.Ph: 0413 – 2666363.

About the Church:

The event that attracted the attention of the world in the 19th century was the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes, France. These apparitions have taken place in 1858 in between 11th February to 16th July. Mother Mary appeared to a young girl Bernadette 18 times from the grotto called Massabielle and revealed her name as The Immaculate Conception and invited people of all nations to come to Lourdes on pilgrimage. And Our Lady worked the miracle of the spring which still continues to flow for more than a century and the water of which cures thousands of people suffering from various diseases.

Villianur shares its importance , that it is the first shrine constructed for Our Lady of Lourdes in India. Rev.Fr.Tharbes a cousin brother of Bernadette, the visionary of Lourdes, was appointed as the Parish Priest of Villianur mission since he had a direct report of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes. And this church is the first in the world to be named after Our Lady of Lourdes outside Lourdes, France. Added to that one pious Lady has paid for a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and made it come from Lourdes under the direct supervision of Bernadette. It was on the 4th April 1877 the statue arrived at Pondicherry and was taken to the Cathedral after the three dangerous falls of the box containing the Holy Mother’s Statue.To everybody’s amaze, the statue was intact and beautiful.

It was in 1885 that Archbishop Laouenan went to Rome and reported the numerous miracles that took place in this Shrine to the Holy Father and got permission on February 21st, 1886 to declare this as an official Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Villianur and to crown the statue in his name. On his return from Rome, on 8th May 1886 during a grand celebration, witnessed by around 40,000 people during the pontifical high mass the Archbishop crowned the miraculous statue in the name of the Pope Leo XIII and declared this church as the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Villianur and attached permanent plenary indulgences to this shrine.

Mass Timings:

On Weekdays – 6.00 am – mass
Saturdays – 6.00 am – mass, 5.30 pm – mass
First Saturday – 5.15 am – first mass, 6.00 am – car procession, 6.30 am – second mass, 5.30 pm – mass, 7.00 pm – Healing prayer
Third Saturday – 5.30 pm – mass followed by Eucharistic Procession & Healing Service
Sundays – 6.00 am – mass, 7.30 am – Second mass, 5.30 pm – Benediction