Our Lady of Vailankanni
Our Lady of Good Health, in Tamil Arokia Matha
- Seers Unnamed boys in the tradition: a boy carrying milk, and a lame boy selling buttermilk; then Portuguese sailors
- Dates Said to be 16th and 17th century; the years vary between tellings
- Place today Vailankanni (also spelled Velankanni), Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu, in the Diocese of Thanjavur (Tanjore)
- Feast 8 September, the Nativity of Mary, with the festival from 29 August
What is told
Vailankanni is a small town on the shore of the Bay of Bengal, close to the old port of Nagapattinam. Three stories explain why people came to pray here. They are told in much the same way by the shrine and by writers on it. The Dicastery’s letter of 2024 dates the devotion to the 16th century. Writers on the shrine add plainly that the stories come down by oral tradition and that no record from the time supports them. The details below should be read in that light: they are what is told, not what has been proved.
The boy with the milk
A boy was carrying milk from Vailankanni to a customer in Nagapattinam. He stopped to rest under a banyan tree by a pond and fell asleep, or in other tellings simply paused there. A lady of great beauty stood before him, holding a Child, and asked for some milk for the Child. He gave it. In many tellings he was a Hindu boy.
Afraid of being late and of bringing a short measure, he went on and told his master why. The master looked in the pot and found it full, and in some tellings overflowing. He went with the boy to the place. The pond came to be called Matha Kulam, Our Lady’s Tank. One widely repeated account dates this to May 1570; another reference work offers only “about 1550” with a question mark. A name is sometimes given for the boy in popular works, but it could not be confirmed, so it is left out here.
The lame boy with the buttermilk
Some time later, near a place called Nadu Thittu, the central mound, a poor widow’s lame son sat under a banyan tree selling buttermilk to travellers. The same lady appeared with the Child and asked for a cup. Then she told him to go to a Catholic gentleman in Nagapattinam and ask him to build a chapel in her name. The boy got up to go, and found that he could walk.
According to the story the gentleman had already been told in a dream or vision to expect him. With the help of local people he put up a small thatched chapel on the mound, and the Lady was called Our Lady of Good Health, in Tamil Arokia Matha. The present basilica stands on that spot, it is said. One date given is 1597; others say only the end of the 16th century.
The Portuguese sailors
In the 17th century, the story goes, a Portuguese merchant ship sailing from Macao to Colombo in Ceylon was caught by a violent storm in the Bay of Bengal. The crew prayed to Mary as Star of the Sea and promised to build a church to her wherever they reached land. The sea calmed, and they came ashore near Vailankanni on 8 September, the feast of her Nativity. One writer gives the number saved as 150 men.
In thanksgiving they turned the thatched chapel into one of stone. On a later voyage, it is said, they brought porcelain plates painted with biblical scenes to adorn the altar. These plates are still shown around the statue above the main altar. It is from this landing that the shrine keeps 8 September as its feast. The Dicastery’s letter mentions this account too, in the words “some Portuguese sailors told”.
What can be shown, and what cannot
Reasonably firm. A devotion that goes back some centuries; a parish at Vailankanni from 1771, earlier served from Nagapattinam; enlargement of the church in the 1920s and 1933; basilica status on 3 November 1962; a long list of parish priests, many of them Portuguese in the earlier period, kept by the shrine.
Tradition only. The two appearances to the boys, the healing of the lame boy, the rescue of the ship, and their dates. No document of the time is known for any of them. The dates differ from book to book, and popular accounts often repeat each other. This does not show that nothing happened. It means that history cannot say.
Disputed or unclear. Some accounts say the sailors came from Goa and Bombay and not from Macao. The reason given for the parish of 1771 is also told in differing ways. Note too that the shrine’s claim of “miracles” in the three stories has never been the subject of any known canonical inquiry.
The main messages
No words of doctrine or warning are handed down from these appearances. What the tradition remembers is what she asked for.
| The boy with the milk | She asks for milk for her Child. The poor boy gives what he has, and it is not used up. |
|---|---|
| The buttermilk seller | She asks for a cup of buttermilk, then asks that a chapel be built. The lame boy is healed on the way. |
| The sailors | No words are recorded. They pray and vow a church, and keep their vow. |
In one line
A mother who asks a poor child for a little, and gives back far more: care for the sick, the poor and those in danger.
Nothing new in the faith
There is no message to believe here. The stories only show what the Gospel teaches of giving from little (Mt 25:40) and of asking for the prayer of the Mother of Jesus.
How the Church sees it
| Judgment | No formal judgment of an apparition is known. One reference work says the apparitions are “implicitly” approved because of the basilica status. That goes too far: making a church a basilica honours the church and its worship, and does not rule on visions. |
|---|---|
| Basilica | While in Rome for the Second Vatican Council, Bishop R. A. Sundaram of Thanjavur asked for the status, and John XXIII raised the shrine to a minor basilica on 3 November 1962, linking it with St Mary Major in Rome. |
| World Day of the Sick | The Dicastery’s letter recalls that St John Paul II chose Vailankanni for the World Day of the Sick in 2002. |
| The letter of 2024 | The love of Mary at Vailankanni, signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, dated 1 August 2024, and approved by Pope Francis at an audience that day. It was addressed to Sagayaraj Thamburaj, then bishop-elect of Thanjavur. It reflects on the boy’s gift of milk as a lesson in generosity, recalls the sailors, names the millions of pilgrims and the fruits of grace, and gives the Pope’s blessing to pilgrims. |
| How it was reported | Some newspapers called it a “nulla osta” or an approval. The text does not say so. In a warm sentence it compares the shrine to Lourdes, saying that the same Virgin who showed herself there showed herself in India as Mother of Health. Readers should take this as a pastoral letter, not as a canonical finding on the three accounts. It should be weighed with the letter’s own word for them, “traditions”. At the presentation of the Medjugorje Note on 19 September 2024, Mgr Armando Matteo of the Dicastery called the letter “in a certain sense” a further case of the application of the Norms, without naming any of the six conclusions. |
| Other religions | The letter says that many non-Christians come seeking comfort, that some are healed and many find peace, and that the Holy Spirit is at work in them through Mary’s prayer. It adds that this should not be taken for syncretism, the mixing of religions. Those who cannot receive the sacraments are not refused the comfort of the Mother of Jesus. The bishop, for his part, told a reporter that not all religions are the same, and that Christ is to be proclaimed. |
| Healings | Many cures are reported, and the shrine’s museum holds thank offerings. No medical bureau of the Lourdes kind is known to have examined them, and none has been declared a miracle by a bishop so far as could be found. Treat them as the thanks of those who prayed. |
The fruits
The clearest fruit is the sheer number of people who pray here, and who they are. The Dicastery speaks only of “millions”. Other counts differ widely: one reference gives nearly five million for the annual novena, a mission society gives about twenty million for the year. No audited count was found, so neither figure should be trusted very far.
Catholics of many languages come, and Mass is said in several of them. Other Christians, Hindus, Muslims and others also come. Many pilgrims walk long distances. Some shave their heads as an offering or have children’s ears pierced, practices of the wider Tamil world. The image of Mary in a sari, and the great flagstaff raised on 29 August, show the Gospel at home in an Indian setting. Writers have noted that some Hindu pilgrims see in her something of the mothers they know in their own tradition. The Church’s own word on this is the one above: she welcomes all, and that is no mixing of faiths.
On 26 December 2004 the Indian Ocean tsunami struck this coast. The Dicastery’s letter recalls that the waters did not damage the church. Many people did die along this shore, and at least one Indian Catholic commentator pointed out that the letter does not speak of them. Both things should be remembered together, and with prayer for the dead. No one should read their deaths as a judgment, or the standing church as a promise that anyone will be spared.
If you visit
Vailankanni lies on the coast in Nagapattinam district, near the town of Nagapattinam, and is reached by road and rail. Besides the basilica, with the older part and the extension added in the 1970s, pilgrims go to Our Lady’s Tank (the chapel there was rebuilt in 1985) and to Nadu Thittu, and many walk the Stations of the Cross and see the museum of offerings. The great days are from the raising of the flag on 29 August to the feast on 8 September, with processions of the decorated cars. Holy Week and Christmas are also crowded.
Timeline
| 16th century | The devotion begins, according to the Dicastery’s letter. The boy with the milk is placed here, about 1550 or in May 1570 according to differing accounts. |
|---|---|
| About 1597 | The healing of the lame boy and the thatched chapel, according to tradition. |
| 17th century | The rescue of the Portuguese ship on 8 September and the stone chapel, according to tradition. |
| 1771 | Vailankanni becomes a parish. |
| 1920s to 1933 | The church is enlarged, and takes the form of a Latin cross. |
| 3 Nov 1962 | John XXIII makes the shrine a minor basilica. |
| 1975 | The extension is blessed and opened. |
| 1985 | The chapel at Our Lady’s Tank is rebuilt. |
| 2002 | St John Paul II chooses Vailankanni for the World Day of the Sick. |
| 26 Dec 2004 | The Indian Ocean tsunami strikes the coast. |
| 1 Aug 2024 | The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith writes to the Bishop of Thanjavur, with the approval of Pope Francis. |
Read it rightly
Even apparitions that the Church has judged are private revelations. They add nothing to the faith and no Catholic is obliged to believe them, though they may help us live the Gospel more fully (CCC 66 to 67). At Vailankanni there is less still to accept: three old stories, loved and unproved. You may honour Our Lady of Good Health and ask her prayers, as the whole Church may, without deciding whether a boy once saw her beside a pond. Healing and every grace come from Christ, and his Mother prays for us.
Sources: Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, The love of Mary at Vailankanni, letter of 1 August 2024; Vatican News report; Crux interview with the bishop-elect; The Miracle Hunter, Vailankanni (timeline and basilica petition); The Southern Cross, 2017; Wikipedia, Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health (for parish dates and details, used with care); Missio; Indian Catholic Matters; press conference of 19 September 2024. The shrine’s own pages could not be read when this was written.