Our Lady of Rosary Church – Eraiyur

Our Lady of Rosary

Contact Details:

Our Lady of Rosary Church
Eraiyur
Ulundurpet TK,
Villupuram Dt
Pin : 607 201.
Tel.Ph: 04149 – 209001

About the Church:

Eraiyur is the biggest parish in our Diocese situated in the District of Cuddalore. This village is located on the Tirukovilur – Asanur main road & south of about 22 Kms from Tirukovilur.It has a population of more than 10 ,000 Catholics. Only a few families of Eraiyur are originally from here while others have settled here from other places.

The first catholic community was established in the 17th century when christianity began to grow around 1660, having as its boundaries the Madura Mission in the North , to the south of Vettavalam. Eraiyur began to grow in catholic faith. The building up of the first catholic community was the hard work of Rev.Fr. Freyre who was a Jesuit priest. History says , around the year 1679 , he went and met the people in and around Eraiyur. At that time a small house was used as the place of worship. But because of the rule of Maratiar these people were tortured and also because of a great famine they began to move away from Eraiyur and settled near Salem.

The building up of the second catholic community in Eraiyur is not excatly known , but during the period of Fr. Beschi who had his place of work in Konankuppam / Arianur came here and worked for them. Many people now in Eraiyur were converted by him . The great literary work of his, namely the Tamil epic Thembavani , Marugerathammal Ammanai , Thirukavalur Kalambagam are familiar with the elder people here. This is the evidence of spiritual encounter that people of Eraiyur had with Fr. Beshi / Veeramamunivar .

In the year 1740 Pope Leo XVI installed his mission. During that time Eraiyur was separated from Madura mission and joined with Pondicherry mission. But , the Padroada priests under the direct rule of the Portugese did not want to give up this place. They had set up their work place at Konankuppam. This caused confusion among christians as to whom they had to follow. The priests belonging to the Pondicherry mission ( called new church) set up their work place at Kovilanur. This prolonged upto 1887. After the setup of the new mission, Eraiyur was under Kovilanur parish. The first parish priest of this new parish was Rev.Fr. Badouil. He worked at Kovilanur from 1843 to 1865. He travelled a lot and united the people to come under the rule of the Pope. In the year 1870 with the blessing of Archbishop Laouenon , Eraiyur separated from Kovilanur and was raised as a separate parish. Fr. Boltelo was appointed as the first parish priest. The church now standing as a monument of the faith and hard work of Eraiyur parish people was started by Rev. Fr. Marylop in the year 1874. The work was carried out by Fr. Niel and Fr. Feron. In the year 1894 Fr. Felix Dupas completed the work started by Fr. Marylop. It took 20 years to complete the construction .The people around the village can see the huge structure of this church from a long distance.