History Of Lourde Mata Mandir

In 1890 the then Vicar General of Nagpur diocese, Fr. Charles Felix Pelvat, MSFS, obtained a plot of 18 acres from the Bhonsle estate on the Takli Hill as a first step towards the projected building of St. Charles' Seminary. It later came to be known as the Grotto valley and is now part of Seminary Hills. At that time Msgr. Alexis Riccaz, MSFS, was the Bishop of Nagpur.
The following year, Mr G.B. Heysmond of Harda, an employee of the railways, made a vow to go on pilgrimage to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.The vow was in thanksgiving for a special favour received through Mary's intercession.
As the railway authorities would not sanction the necessary leave to journey to Lourdes and back, Mr. Heysmond made representations to the ecclesiastical authorities. They commuted his vow into one of performing a religious work entailing a sacrifice more or less equal to the burden of fulfilling his original promise. He was told of the possibility of building a Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in the recently acquired valley of Takli Hill. Accordingly he donated the entire money needed for building a Grotto
At the same time a pious lady from Marseilles in France send Bishop Riccaz Rs.3000 for the Grotto chapel. Fr. Patrick Wall, MSFS wrote as follows in March 1892 : "the work to build the Grotto and chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes began on the Takli Hill.... I began sinking a well in the valley and within a few feet found plenty of delicious water. From the well, a road with a gentle slope reaches the top of the hill by which we shall be able to carry material on carts ...".
During the monsoon of 1892, Bishop Riccaz fell ill and was asked to go to Jabalpur for a change and rest. He died there on 8th September. After the death of Bishop Riccaz the diocese was administered by Fr. Charles Pelvat. By the end of October the work of the chapel and the Grotto was completed. In the mean time the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes had been brought from France, and on 7th November 1892 the Grotto was solemnly blessed by Fr. Pelvat, now vicar-capitular of the diocese.
At that time the seminary hills was a lonely place, surrounded by thick forest. There was neither Mass nor Novena nor the celebration of a feast at the Grotto. A few people use to come there on Saturdays to pray and say the Rosary. But during the rest of the week it remained forgotten. Sometime in 1925, the Grotto door was maliciously broken open and the offering of the people carried away. After this incident the grotto remained unlocked.                   In the same year a violent death took place at the Grotto. Desecrated by this murder, the Grotto was immediately closed by Bishop Coppel,MSFS and the statue of Our Lady was taken to St. Charles seminary. Ten years later, in 1935, the Grotto chapel was renovated by order of Bishop Gayet, MSFS who was now Bishop of Nagpur, and reopened on 24th April. The ceremony began with the solemn blessing of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes by the Bishop at St Francis de Sales Cathedral.
It was then taken in procession to the Grotto by the Bishop, Clergy and Laity all the while singing hymns in honour of Our Lady. On arrival at the shrine the statue was installed in the chapel and the Bishop in a brief speech expressed how glad he was to reopen the old Grotto on the same day as a grand Triduum was begun in Lourdes itself in France. The occasion was the closing of the year of the Jubilee to |commemorate the 19th centenary of the Redemption. The year 1962 marks a new chapter in the history of the Grotto. In the previous year some time after Easter His Grace, Most Rev. Eugene D'Souza, MSFS, the first Archbishop of Nagpur left for Europe. While he was away the Rector of St. Charles seminary, Fr. Gerald Mannes Cussen, OP, requested the seminarians to pray for His Grace's welfare and mission that God might bless his efforts for the Archdiocese. After hearing this, one of the Brothers in the seminary, Peter Joachim Mendes, MSFS, made a promise to Our Lady during one of his daily visits to the Grotto that, when His Grace returned, he would ask him to say a Mass of Thanksgiving in the open in front of the Grotto.
His Grace returned safely and in fulfillment of the promise made by Bro. Mendes, he offered a Thanksgiving Mass in front of the Grotto on Saturday February 17th, 1962 at 5:00 p.m. He preached both in Hindi and in English. His Grace was so pleased with this function that he strongly recommended that it be held every year on a grand scale. Since then the annual pilgrimage service is held on Sunday closest to the 11th February. In 1975 the Grotto was entrusted to the newly erected Rosary Parish run by the Dominican Fathers and Brothers. Soon afterwards there were more developments of the site in and around the Grotto under the leadership of Late Fr. C.J. Sebastian,OP, who was then the Pastor of Rosary Parish. Presently Fr. Prasad George is the Parish Priest and Fr. George Raj is the Parochial Minister.
With the arrival of Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulankara in Nagpur, things started to take shape pretty fast over here. His dynamism and drive proved to be a boon and the present grandeur and grace surrounding this center is an upshot of his endeavour.            On February 13th 2000, Archbishop Abraham declared the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes as a pilgrim center and Lourdes' Matha as a Patroness of Nagpur Archdiocese.