| Poondi Matha Basilica | |
|---|---|
| Basic information | |
| Location | Poondi, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Year consecrated | Eighteenth century beginning |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Minor Basilica |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural style | Gothic and French architecture |
| Specifications | |
Our Lady of Lourdes Basilica, Poondi, is a Catholic pilgrimage centre located in Tamil Nadu, South India. Poondi is a small village located in Thiruvaiyaru Taluk (also spelled as Taluka), about 35-km away from Thanjavur. It is considered as one of the Roman Catholic Pilgrim centre similar to Velankanni, which houses the famous Poondi Madha Shrine that attracts pilgrims from all over India.
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In the beginning of the eighteenth century (1714–1718) a great Italian Jesuit missionary named Rev. Fr. Constantine Joseph Beschi S.J., popularly known as Veeramamunivar, built a church and named it as the church of "Mary Queen of Immaculate Conception".
Rev. Fr. Lourdes Xavier, Parish Priest of the church in 1955 noticed the bad shape of the roof and consulted an engineer who told that except for the central roof, the rest of the structure was quite strong. He recommended that it was enough to demolish only the roof.
After a while on one rainy night, the roof of the church collapsed, leaving everything else intact, thus saving the cost of demolishing. Shortly after this, the number of pilgrims to the Shrine was on the rise and kept increasing as accounts of miracles and cures started to spread. And people gave Her the name Poondi Matha. Matha means Mother in Tamil. Then onwards, the shrine was popularly known as Poondi Matha shrine.
Poondi Madha Shrine has been raised to the level of Minor Basilica by Pope John Paul II on 3 August 1999.
The present structure of the shrine represents a mixture of Gothic and French architecture. The highlight of the structure is the row of statues of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, saints like St. Francis Xavier and also one of Fr. Constantine Joseph Beschi on the facade, above the portico. Most importantly it got a relic of the True Cross, believed to be the one on which Christ was crucified.
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