Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Villianur
வில்லியனூர் லூர்து அன்னை திருத்தலம்
Marian shrine and parish church at Villianur, among the first in the world dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes outside France; its statue was crowned in 1886.
A Roman Catholic Marian shrine at Villianur, about 13 km from Pondicherry on the road to Villupuram, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.
History
After the apparitions at Lourdes in 1858, missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society bought land at Villianur in 1867 and built a chapel at Kanuvapet, on the outskirts of the town; it took ten years to complete. Its first parish priest, Father Alphonse Marie de Tarbes, was a cousin of Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, and the shrine is described as one of the first in the world named after Our Lady of Lourdes outside France. A statue brought from Lourdes was installed in 1877; Pope Leo XIII decreed its coronation in 1886, and Archbishop Laouënan crowned it on 8 May 1886. A larger church was built beside the original shrine in 2011.
What to see
- The original shrine and its crowned statue of Our Lady of Lourdes
- The larger church of 2011 beside it
Why visit
A pilgrimage place with an unusual link to Lourdes itself, close to the Thirukameeswarar temple in Villianur.
- Address
- Murungapakkam Villianur Road
- Coordinates
11.911233, 79.760610