Church in Archdiocese of Bombay
Church in ., India
Officially, the
Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount
,
colloquially
known as
Mount Bandra
and
Mount St Mary Church
; is a
basilica
(
shrine
) of the
Roman Catholic Church
, located at the
Bandra
neighbourhood of
Bombay (Mumbai)
, India.
[1]
The
festival
of the nativity of
St Mary
, also known as
Holy Marymas
or the
Bandra Fest
, is celebrated here on the 8th day of September: the auspicious occasion of the birth of the
virgin-mother
of
Jesus Christ
. The annual feast is followed by a week-long
fair
or
fete
known in the northern
Konkan region
as the "Bandra fair"; it is thronged by
lakhs
of
tourists
,
pilgrims
and
devotees
every year.
[2]
[3]
[4]
Many visitors come to Mount St Mary Church in order to make their
mannat
(wish) come true.
[4]
Pope Pius XII
granted a decree of
canonical coronation
to the shrine's reverenced Marian
icon
on 21 October 1954, both signed and notarised by Cardinal
Giovanni Battista Montini
of the
Sacred Congregation of Rites
. The statue of the
Madonna
and the
Prince of peace
was crowned in a ceremony on 5 December 1954, by the late Cardinal
Valerian Gracias
.
The basilica
[
edit
]
The basilica stands on a
hillock
, about 80 metres above
sea level
overlooking the
Arabian Sea
. It draws thousands of devotees and pilgrims annually, especially during the Bandra Fest. Many visitors attest to the
miracles
worked by the
supernatural power
of
St Mary
at Mount Bandra. The shrine attracts people from all faiths who plead for favours, with others coming back expressing their gratitude. The church was
raided
and destroyed in 1738 during the
Mahratta Invasion of Bassein
, led by the
Peshva
Brahmin
Chimaji Appa
. It was rebuilt in the
British Bombay
era.
During the Bandra Fair, the entire area is decorated with festoons and buntings. Many pitch up stalls to sell religious articles, flowers, snacks and sweets.
Wax figures
of the Virgin Mary along with an assortment of candles shaped like hands, feet and various other parts of the body are sold at kiosks. The sick and the suffering choose a candle or wax figure that corresponds to their ailment or request and light it inside the church with the hope that Mother Mary will heed their appeals for help.
[4]
Statue of the Virgin Mary
[
edit
]
Although the current structure and edifice of the shrine is just 100 years old and was rebuilt in
British Bombay
, the history behind the current statue of the
Blessed Mary
goes back to the 16th century, when
Jesuit
priests brought the statue and constructed a
chapel
in what was then the
Portuguese East Indies
. In 1700,
Sunni Arab pirates
raiding the area were interested in the gilt-lined object held in the hand and
desecrated
the statue by cutting off the right hand.
In 1760, the church was rebuilt after the
Mahratta invasion of Goa and Bombay
, and the statue was substituted with a statue of Our Lady of Navigators in the St Andrew's Church nearby. Legend has it that a
Koli Christian
fisherman dreamt of the statue floating in the sea, and as prophesied in the dream the statue was indeed found the next day, floating in the sea. A Jesuit annual letter dated to 1669 and published in the book
St Andrew's Church, Bandra
(1616–1966) supports this claim. The Koli fishermen call the statue as Mot Mauli, literally meaning the "Pearl Mother or the Mother of the Mount";
Mot
could be a corruption of the
Indo-Portuguese
word
monte
for "mount";
Maoli
is a
Marathi-Konkani
word for "mother". The previous statue is now restored and is enshrined in a
place of honour
in the basilica. Most
Bombay East Indians
and some Hindus visit this shrine often, making the place a prominent feature of
intercommunal harmony
and
interfaith dialogue
in Mumbai.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Mount Mary Church, Bandra
at Wikimedia Commons