The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Church festivities reach finale

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Wednesday, Sep 09, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Church festivities reach finale

Staff Reporter

Flag of Our Lady of Health lowered at Velankanni Square at 6 p.m.

BEAUTIFUL: A view of the Velankanni church on Monday night.

VELANKANNI: The 10-day festivities reached their finale with the lowering of the flag of Our Lady of Health at the Velankanni square at 6 p.m. with the beat of the drums and the play of trumpets marking its closure.

The de-hoisting was followed by litany, benediction and mass in lower Basilica.

The day of the Nativity of Mary commenced at 6 a.m. with the concelebrated feast mass presided over by the Bishop of Thanjavur M. Devadass Ambrose.

As a prelude to the ceremony, the church administration thanked the Collector C. Munianathan and Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Dayal along with the others for facilitating the smooth conduct of the feast.

The penultimate day celebrations of the feast at Velankanni were observed here with the grand car procession of Mary on Monday night on the eve of the feast of Nativity of Mary.

The procession that commenced late in the evening saw a grand gathering of teeming of thousands participating in the evening’s choir led by the Bishop and lent by 20 priests.

The car procession was preceded by week-long festivities interspersed with minor car processions from the entrance to the main shrine along with litanies, masses and prayers held for the communion of believers. The week witnessed blessings and masses conducted in Tamil, English, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Konkini and Marathi. The night was bedecked by a concert by K. J. Jesudas.

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