Christianity in Tamil Nadu
According to tradition, St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, landed in Malabar Coast (modern day Kerala) in AD 52.
[3] Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu - Kanyakumari (47.7% of the population, 2011[3]), Thoothukudi (19%, 2011) and Tirunelveli (15%, 2011).
The vast majority of Christians in Tamil Nadu are either Latin Catholics or members of the Church of South India.
The London Mission Congregational churches date back to 1795 when British missionaries were sent to 19th century Tamil Nadu and Kerala States of South India.
The Salvation Army operation commenced on 27 May 1892 as a result of the vision received by Major Deva Sundaram at "Medicine Hill" near Nagercoil in Kanyakumari District.
The same year the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church has also newly established the `Diocese of Marthandam` (bifurcated from its Archdiocese of Trivandrum) in Kanyakumari district.
In the 18th century (1806) European missionary William Tobias Ringeltaube established Protestant churches and propagated Christianity in Kanyakumari district and South Travancore.
In 1956, Pope Pius XII raised the church to the status of a Minor Basilica, and on 11 February 2006, it was declared a national shrine by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.
[6] The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is located in the small town of Velankanni in the state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India.
Devotion to Our Lady of Good Health of Velankanni can be traced to the mid-16th century and is attributed to three miracles at different sites around where the basilica currently stands: the apparition of Mary and the Christ Child to a slumbering shepherd boy, the curing of a lame buttermilk vendor, and the rescue of Portuguese sailors from a violent sea storm.
[7] Although all three apparitions ultimately resulted in the erection of a shrine to our Lady, it was the promise of the Portuguese sailors that was the proximate cause of a permanent edifice being built at Velankanni.
The chapel was dedicated on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September), the day of their safe landing.
While Francis Xavier was doing missionary work in Kottar and its neighbourhood, he averted an invasion of Vadugas with the help of the army of Paravars and Padaiyatchis of Kottar, at Vadasery, thus protecting the people of the Venad kingdom from that attack which was appreciated by the king, Unni Kerala Varma, who became closer to the priest and befriended him from then on.
