Miracles

Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Immaculate conception,Immaculate conception church pullichira-
A pilgrim centre:To grow in faith and friendship

"Ask and
You shall receive,
seek and
you shall find,
knock and
it shall be opened to you.".

Pullichira is a village,a historical parish that holds deep faith in kollam district of kerala,the first diocese in Asia bestowed with natural beauty and the land that Our Lady of Immaculate Conception chose to come and help build the famous Marian pilgrimage center,Immaculate Conception church in this part of the world.On the eastern side of the church is a mountain and a beautiful lake down.People from all walks of life,faith and religion come here to pray.

Around 600 years back,a box was found floating in the lake and settled near the old church here.Immediatly the church bell rang on its own and everybody from the parish gathered and saw the box.

The box was finaly opened in the presence of the priest and that was a Miracle. Inside the box was the smiling miraculous statue of our lady of immaculate conception with folded hands.

Everyone watched Our Lady dumb founded and couldn't speak for a long time.Then the parish priest and the villagers decided to put a "lot" to decide what to do with the staue.

1.whether Our Lady likes to be placed in this church.
2.whether Mother Mary would like to be placed in any other church.
3.Or should the box be floated back again.

The lot taken showed that Mother Mary would like to be placed in this church here in Pullichira.

Accordingly she was decorated and placed in the small church here after performing the necessary prayers.The news spread about Our Lady and people in and around this place gathered to see her.

Again another miracle happened.The next day the Parish priest before going off for sleep bent on his knees and started praying in front of the miraculous Mother Mary.

Suddently he saw a flash of light and thought it must be lightning before rains and continued praying.But within few seconds light flashed again and he got up and turned and looked around .He couldn't believe because for rains there had to be the sound of thunder too and nothing was heard.Only flashes of lightening Again he bent on his knees and started praying and called "Mother Mary" and immediately he saw the flash of light again and heard a sound.That was the sound of our Lady.

She said "You should place me facing East".And the flash of light disappeared.The Priest stayed on for a long time and Her words echoed in his ears.He couldn't sleep and after a few hours he opened the church and bent again in front of Our lady and started praying .By then it was morning and he did'n't know.

The curch bell rang again to let the villagers know of this miracle too.People gathered again and the priest let them know of Mother Mary's wish.They all looked Eastward and saw the mountain and beauty of nature and so they started calling her "Malanokiyamma" meaning mother who looks at mountain.
And after this miracle Many more flocked to see her from distant lands .They said they saw a box floating in the lake in many places,when they tried to get hold of it ,it disappered in all those places.

India was then under Portugeese rule and the concerned authorities came to take note and find the truth about this and research.They started building the church exactly there and placed her as she wished.

Another miracle too happened as work for the church was progressing,The only source of water for construction was the lake and it was salty.People became depressed and started praying and asking Mary to help in constructing church by making salty water good.There were group prayers and the salty water transformed into good water.So she is also known as "Uppuvellam Nal vellam aakiya amma" meaning Mother who converted salty water to good water.

Thus the church was build from miraculous and holy water that was transformed by Mother Mary and to this day Mother Mary has touched the lives of many and peformed lots and lots of miracles and continue to answer prayers.

Feast: The feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception church,Pullichira is conducted every year during the second and third week of December.It is a ten day feast and people from all walks of life,faith and religion come here to pray.During the last 3 days of the feast,the miraculous statue of Mother Mary is brought down from her position above the alter and taken around the church as procession.This is the only time when people get to touch the Miraculous statue of Our Lady and there are candle lit processions the previous night too of the main feast day.

Direction: Reach Kottiyam (on N.H 47 Kollam -Thiruvananthapuram road ) ,12 Km from kollam(Quilon) railway station,in kerala,India by road. From Kottiyam,2 km on Mayyanad Road is Immaculate Conception Church Pullichira.

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St Mary's Church Champakulam

Champakulam St Mary's church is one of the oldest churches in kerala and is believed to be one of the seven churches established by St. Thomas in Kerala.

Feast

The annual feast at this church falls on the 3rd Sunday of October every year. The feast of St. Joseph is celebrated on March 19th.

Direction

Air - Nearest International Airports : Kochi (Nedumbassery - 85 km). Thiruvananthapuram (150 kms).
Rail - Well connected to Major Cities.
Road - An excellent road network links the district to all major towns and cities in india.
Water - Linked by boat service through the back waters to Quilon(8 Hrs), Changanacherry(3 hrs), Kumarakom(3 hr), Cochin(4 hrs), Kumarakom(2 hrs), Chengannor, etc.

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Mother Mary Francis De Chanthal ,co-foundress of SABS,Sisters of the Adoration of Blessed Sacrament ---more soon...

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