Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The mast offered to the Virgin of Bandel

Bandel (India) (1599-1632)

On the banks of the Hooghly River, in Bengal, there is the one that the archdiocese of Calcutta considers the oldest Catholic sanctuary in the region: the church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Bandel. The Portuguese settled there in the early 17th century with the permission of the Mogol Emperor Jahangir, and dedicated their church to the Virgin of the Rosary. Tradition sets its foundation in 1599; it is certainly in the late 16th or early 17th century, and the exact date belongs more to the consolidated tradition than to the critical document.

History had its dark hour. In 1632, Emperor Shah Jahan ordered a campaign against the Portuguese settlement of Hooghly-Bandel; the village was razed and the church destroyed, with many Christians killed or enslaved. This is documented in Mughal and local historiography. The church was later rebuilt, and the current structure is the result of successive expansions.

The pious tradition counts two beautiful things. One, that during the assault the image of the Virgin was thrown into the river and given for loss, and that time later appeared in the waters and returned to worship. Another, which a Portuguese ship, surprised by a storm in the Bay of Bengal, was entrusted to Our Lady of the Rosary of Bandel; saved from the shipwreck, its sailors offered in thanksgiving the mast of the ship. From these stories, the fully verifiable is the simplest and most moving: the mast exists and is preserved in the sanctuary as a naval exvote, uniformly mentioned in diocesan guides and Indian press.

The miraculous details—the storm, the promise, the image recovered from the river—belong to local tradition: no contemporary historical source confirms them precisely. But the physical gesture remains. The very title, "Our Lady of the Rosary," reveals a devotion to the Rosary dating back to Portuguese origins, and even today pilgrims pray the Rosary and leave votive offerings. The mast is still there, a reminder of the gratitude of sailors who felt protected by the Mother.