St Paul the Hermit

St Paul the Hermit

Contact Details:

St.Paul the Hermit Church
Kalpet
Villupuram Dt
Pin : 605 302,
Tel.Ph: 04146- 264348.

About the Church:

The pilgrim centre of this famous shrine Kalpet was like a forest 100 years back. There were lots of bushes and trees amidst the small hills. Around 1895 AD Mr. Subramania Iyar of Kalyana Iyar family was searching for his lost cattle in this forest. There happened a miracle. He saw a cross appearing with beautiful aroma of incense and suddenly disappearing in the small hill which is located near the old church. This happened for several times. He went back home, and on that same night , Subramania Iyar saw a vision in his dream . A person dressed like a priest appeared to him and said ” I’m St.Paul the Hermit , you’ll find your cows where you saw the sign “.

Next day morning he explained about his dream to Kalanganimuthu who was a catholic. Along with him few people also went to the place and to their amazement they also saw the miraculous sign and declared truly St. Paul the Hermit was there. They cleared the bush and made a place of worship to him. The cows which were lost were also found in that same place. This news spread like a forest fire and many people began to come to this holy place and get their petitions heard . During that time, Mugaiur was the parish. Fr. Antony built a church with a roof for our saint. Fr. Selvanathar seeing the crowd that was increasing day by day decided to elevate the place into a pilgrimage centre and with the help of well wishers of Pondicherry celebrated a festival for the saint. The first festival for our saint was celebrated in the year 1901.

After that, every year the annual festival of this shrine was celebrated on the first Wednesday of August. For the convenience of the devotees , it has been decided with the permission of Archbishop Dr. Michel Augustine to celebrate it on 8th August and from the year 1997 the annual festival is celebrated on this day. In the year 1998 ,August 8th Kalpet was declared a separate Parish.. The parish priest of Thely, Fr. Elias was appointed the first parish priest of Kalpet. The new shrine of Kalpet was opened by Archbishop Dr.Michael Augustine on 8th August 1998.