Friday, September 30, 2011

Oriyur Church, Tamil Nadu



One of the other churches we visited for a short time was the shrine in Oriyur, erected at the site where missionary and saint John De Britto was martyred in 1693. A Portuguese Jesuit priest, De Britto devoted his life to bringing the Gospel to the people of Tamil Nadu. After his beheading, the sand at the site is said to have turned red. Devotees believe that by applying the sand on their bodies, they will be relieved of incurable diseases. (Truthfully, I did not notice anything unusual about the sand). After praying to the saint at the church, childless couples are said to be given a child.

One of the churches visited during the September pilgrimage season, Oriyur receives over 25,000 pilgrims (Christians, Hindus, and Muslims alike) during this time period of a couple of weeks. Visitors from Tamil Nadu and neighboring Kerala make up the bulk of those that come to worship and pray at the Portuguese style church.

3 comments:

nickola said...

Hi, I am Nickola from ORIYUR

nickola said...

hi, really i would like to thank your work. My native is ORIYUR

Melissa Enderle said...

You're very welcome, Nickola. I enjoyed my visit to this important area.