Our Lady of Vailankanni (Vay-lun-kun-nee), also known as Our Lady of Good Health appears in Shrines and Churches all across India, as well as the world (including at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.).
In the Tamil language of Tamil Nadu, India, she is called “Annai Velankanni” or “Velankanni Mata (or “Amma”)” (both of which mean Mother) showing her status as the follower’s mother, in addition to Jesus’ mother.
Our Lady appeared in Vailankanni, India three times during the latter part of the sixteenth century and miracles of healing are attributed to her. The Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health Church at Vailankanni in southern Tamil Nadu, is also called “Lourdes of the East” as this Marian site, like Lourdes in France, draws millions of pilgrims throughout the year praying to Our Lady for various needs including healing.
Apparitions of Our Lady at Vailankanni
The following is summarized from a plaque for a statue of Our Lady of Good Health in the Cathedral of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. which was dedicated on August 16, 1997 by The Most Reverend Agostino Cacciavillan, Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to the United States (also from motherofmiraclesdc.org):
Christianity has flourished in India since its introduction by Saint Thomas the Apostle in 52 A.D. Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared three times at Vailankanni, a village in southern India on the Bay of Bengal. Oral tradition describes Our Lady’s apparitions as follows:
- A Hindu boy delivering milk stopped to rest under a banyan tree on the banks of a pond, where he fell asleep. He awoke to see Our Lady, who requested milk for her Son. The boy hesitated, as he didn’t want to give some of his customer’s milk, but later obliged. When he reached his customer’s home, the boy apologized for his lateness and the reduced amount of milk in his pot by relating the incident that had occurred along the way. On inspection, he was surprised to find his milk pot overflowing and realized that something miraculous had happened. That man, also a Hindu, wanted to see the place where the apparition happened, accompanied the boy. When they reached the pond, Our Lady appeared once again. On learning that it was Our Lady who appeared to the boy, the residents of the local Catholic community became ecstatic. The pond was named Our Mother’s Pond or “Madha Kulam”.
- Mary appeared to a lame boy selling buttermilk outside Vailankanni to support himself and his mother. She asked for some for her infant Son. The boy complied, and he was miraculously cured. Mary asked him to tell a certain Catholic man in Nagapattinam of her visitation. The previous night, Mary had appeared in this man’s dream, expressing a desire that a chapel be built. In Mary’s honor, the man erected a thatched chapel in Vailankanni. Commemorating the miraculous cure, Mary was called Mother of Good Health, “Arokia Madha”.
- Portuguese seamen, sailing home from Macao, China encountered a violent storm, were shipwrecked near Colombo, Sri Lanka. They prayed to Mary and miraculously were washed ashore near Vailankanni where they were taken by local fisherman to the thatched chapel. In gratitude, they built a permanent chapel in which they placed a statue of Mary wearing a sari.
References:
Shrines in India https://churchwonders.com/shrines/india-shrines_1/our-lady-of-vailankanni-across-india/
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception https://www.nationalshrine.org/
Vailankanni Oratory at the National Shrine, Washington D.C http://motherofmiraclesdc.org/
Official Site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Vailankanni in India: http://www.vailankannishrine.net/