The solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is celebrated as an annual sixteen-day confraternity festival, from 31 July to 15 August.

Presently the church offers solace to the faithful who gather there for the powerful intercessions of Our Lady and Saint Joseph.

On 20 February 1700 Pope Clement appointed the Carmelite missionary Angelus Francis as the Vicar Apostolic Malabar.

The church is the final resting place of 28 Carmelite missionaries, including eight bishops of the Diocese of Varapuzha.

When Tipu Sultan (1750–1799), the Muslim conqueror, attacked, plundered and killed many, Varapuzha was providentially left out being an island, but it became the place of refuge for all from all religions and castes.

[citation needed] In 1682 the Carmelite missionaries of Varapuzha requested the Propaganda Fidei for the construction of a seminary for the formation of the indigenous clergy.

[citation needed] In a letter dated 11 December 2020, the office of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approved the application of the Archdiocese of Verapoly to elevate the status of the former cathedral of Varapuzha to a minor basilica.

[1] The tomb of Venerable Eliswa Vakayil (1831–1913), the foundress of the first indigenous Carmelite congregations (CTC and CMC) in Saint Joseph's convent, Varapuzha, is here.