St Andrew Church – vepery
Address:
St Andrew Churchvepery
No.123, Kalathiappa Street,
Choolai,
Chennai – 600 112.
Brief History:
St Andrew’s, the first Church in Vepery is one of
the earliest Roman Catholic churches in Madras. It is the Mother Church for the
famous Votive Shrine in Kilpauk, Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Perambur, St
Joseph’s in Vepery, St Anthony’s in Pudupet and St Anthony’s in Narasingapuram.
The old Church of St Andrew’s was built by Rev Fr Felix, an Italian Capuchin in
1830. Msgr D Raju who was the 28th Parish Priest [1940 - 1971] of St Andrew’s
Church built the new Church which now exists with great splendour. Msgr P
Thomas, late Archbishop of Bangalore, was the Parish Priest from 1931 to
1939.The new Church was constructed at the same site as the old one constructed
by the Capuchin Father in Kalathiappa Street.
My brother and I received the sacrament of CONFIRMATION from Bishop Thomas Pothacamury (P.Thomas) in the year 1940. The Nellore Diocese was divided into two areas, and Bishop Thomas was the first Bishop of the newly created Diocese of GUNTUR
ReplyDeleteThe church pews at St. Andrew's had parish family names engraved at the places where the family worshipped. My grandfather constructed the Priest's Residence (under contract I am told) in the 1930s when the future Bishop was known as Fr. P. Thomas.
My Mother got Baptism and the Sacrement of Confirmation in this historical church. Our Parents' marriage also took place in this church. And all of us, four brothers and a sister also got Baptism in this church. Praise The Lord. Ave Maria.
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