Our Lady of Velankanni Church, Irla –It is well known that the history of the devotion to Our lady of Velankanni is traced back to a small town of Vailankanni located near Nagapattinam to the South of Chennai. It is believed that, Our Lady dispensed miracles to mankind through three significant appearances to ordinary people at different locations in and around Vailankanni. Her first appearance with baby Jesus was to a Hindu boy carrying milk. In the second event, Our Lady appeared and cured a crippled boy selling butter milk, after which people started calling Our Lady ‘Mother of Good Health’. In her third appearance, Our Lady rescued Portuguese sailors from a violent storm. On being taken to the thatched chapel at Vailankanni by the local fishermen, as a gesture of thanksgiving to Our Lady, the sailors set up a small permanent structure which today has grown into a huge sprawling township.

Irla, situated just off S.V. Road between Vile Parle and Andheri is a well known landmark, thanks to the Shrine of Our Lady of Health of Velankanni. It was in October 1967 that the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) touched base in Irla. At the midnight Mass on December 25, 1968, Rev. Fr. Bruno Venturin (PIME), announced that he would build a Chapel for the people of Irla and the Chapel (now named the Prayer Hall) was officially inaugurated on 14th April 1968 (Easter Sunday).

Fr. Ivan Mascarenhas
(Parish Priest)