Velankanni - The Virgin of the Bonds
Velankanni · Tamil Nadu · India · Siglo XVI
The three apparitions of the Virgin
Velankanni's devotion has its origin in three apparitions, recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries:
- 1st apparición: The Virgin with the Child appeared to a pasture by a pond and asked for milk for her Son. The shepherd obeyed, but the master he served found the pitcher full of milk instead of empty.
- 2nd apparición: The Virgin appeared to a paralytic boy who sold milk serum and cured it. He asked him to build a chapel in his honor.
- 3rd apparición: A Portuguese ship in danger of shipwreck in the Bengal Sea invoked the Virgin and was miraculously saved. In gratitude, the sailors built in 1560 a chapel in Velankanni, the place where they had promised to go if they survived.
The "Lourdes de Oriente"
Velankanni es llamada la "Oriental Heavy" by the multitude of miraculous healings attributed to the Virgin. The sanctuary receives between 15 and 20 million pilgrims a year, of all religions: Catholics, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists go to Velankanni together. It's one of the most crowded shrines in the world.
El tsunami de 2004
On 26 December 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the coast of Tamil Nadu. Velankanni, on the edge of the sea, was seriously affected: more than 1,000 people died in or around the sanctuary, many of them pilgrims. The basilica suffered minor damage. The survivors interpreted the resistance of the sanctuary as miraculous.