Our Lady of Good Health (Tamil: ஆரோக்கிய அன்னை Ārōkkiya annai), also recognized as Our Lady of Vailankanni, is a title attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary by her followers. According to tradition, she is believed to have made two appearances in the town of Velankanni, Tamil Nadu, India, during the 16th and 17th centuries.
History
Marian apparitions at Velankanni include three of the Virgin of Velankanni in the 16th century, according to oral lore and popular belief. The third noteworthy incident is the reported miraculous rescue of the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay-Bassein, who were sailing away from a deadly monsoon surge and tempest, in the Bay of Bengal in the late 17th century.
This well/pool is situated where the first apparition had occurred.
The first Marian apparition is said to have occurred in May 1570, when a local shepherd boy was delivering milk to a nearby house. Along the way he met a beautiful woman holding a child, who asked for some milk for the child. After giving her some milk, he continued on under the hot tropical sun, upon finishing his deliveries he found that the jug was still full of fresh and cool milk. A small shrine was built near the site where the boy encountered the woman, a location that came to be called Maatha Kulam, which means "Mother's well" in Tamil language.
Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health
The second Marian apparition is said to have happened in 1597, not far from Maatha Kulam. A beautiful woman with a child in her arms appeared to a crippled boy selling buttermilk. The child asked for a drink of buttermilk. After he drank it, the woman told the boy to visit a gentleman in the next town and ask him to build a chapel in her honour at that location. As the boy set out he realised he had been healed and was no longer lame. A small thatched chapel was built shortly thereafter in honour of "Our Lady of Good Health" or Aarokia Maatha in Tamil.
The third notable incident occurred when a Portuguese ship sailing from Macao to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was caught in extreme weather in the Bay of Bengal. The terrified sailors invoked the aid of the Virgin Mary under her title Our Lady, Star of the Sea. The raging storm suddenly subsided and the entire crew of 150 on board the ship were saved from capsizing. This happened on 8 September, the feast day of the Nativity of Mary. In thanksgiving the sailors rebuilt the shrine, and continued to visit and donate to the cause of the shrine whenever their voyages brought them to the area.
The shrine that began as a thatched chapel in the mid-sixteenth century and became a parish church in 1771, when Indian Catholics were persecuted in the erstwhile Dutch Coromandel, after the Luso-Dutch war was waged by Dutch Protestants.
Historical Data of Vailankanni Shrine
1 The history of Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni, dawned in the 16th century
2 In September 1771, Vailankanni which had been a substation of Nagapattinam Parish, was raised to the status of a Parish.
3 The majestic Shrine facing the East, was renovated twice in 1920 and 1933.
4 His Holiness Pope John the XXIII, raised the Shrine to the status of 'Basilica' on the 3rd November 1962. The apparitions of Our Lady, the Miraculous statue of Our Lady, the countless miracles, the magnificent architecture and beauty of the Shrine, were the motives for this Shrine to become a Basilica.
5 The storeyed extension Basilica was blessed and opened in 1975.
6 In 1985,the little Chapel at Our Lady's Tank, was built a new and blessed.
Prayer to Our Lady of Good Health
O Mary! Our Mother of Health and Our Heavenly Queen, seated on your throne of mercy and compassion in your Holy Shrine at Vailankanni, we praise and honor you to be our refuge and our relief. Numerous are the sick who through you have recovered health. Relying on your power and goodness, we fly to you and implore you to heal our infirmities and to obtain for us perfect health of body and soul, that we may better be able to serve you and your Divine Son. At all times you have been the help and consolation of the sick. You obtain for them health, when it is conducive to their salvation. You assist them at time of their death. Help them O Most amiable Mother and obtain for us cure from all our sufferings, or patience to endure them in the spirit of resignation agreeable to God’s Holy Will, so that all our trials and sufferings may help to purify our souls and help us to detach ourselves from earthly ties. Amen
Live From Vailankanni Shrine
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