Annual Feast of Infant Jesus Shrine to be Celebrated on Jan 14
Mangaluru: “The Annual Feast of Infant Jesus will be celebrated on Tuesday 14 January 2014 at the Infant Jesus Shrine, Carmel Hill, with great solemnity and devotion”, said the director of Infant Jesus Shrine Fr Elias D’Souza in a press meet held at the Shrine’s premises here on December 31.
Addressing the mediapersons Fr Elias said, “The nine days of novena starts on January 5, in preparation for the feast. After the novena mass at 10:30 am all the devotees will be served with lunch. There will be nine masses every day during the days of the novena. The annual feast of Infant Jesus will be celebrated on January 14, with a solemn mass at 6:00 pm”.
On the Feast day, there will be masses from 6:00 am to 12:30 pm. The Festive mass will be presided by Bishop Dr Henry D’Souza along with Fr Charles Serrao (Provincial OCD) and other priests. The feast mass will be celebrated on January 15 at 10:30 am by Bishop Fr Francis Serrao. The votive offering procession will be held on January 4, 2017, at 5:30 pm from the Kulshekar Church grounds to the Infant Jesus Shrine followed by the hoisting of the flag.
Fr Joe Tauro OCD Superior said, “The silent Carmel hill in the heart of the busy Mangaluru houses one of the most beautiful Shrines of Infant Jesus, which provides peace and solace to the devotees. The chapel was built in 1947 and it is under the care of the Carmelite priests. Though the devotion to Infant Jesus began 150 years ago, but took a definite form in Mangaluru after the Belgian Carmelites took over. Especially, after those staffing, the erstwhile Quilon Seminary decided on founding a house of monastic observance in the port city. For this purpose, two Belgian priests Marcel arid hyacinth were sent to Mangaluru in 1947. They explored the city in search of a suitable site until they came across Carmel Hill, where the construction work of the Chapel commenced. At first, the devotional service of the Infant Jesus consisted of a mere prayer which was recited on Thursdays after the Mass in the morning. Later, for the convenience of the people, the Mass with its subsequent devotion in an elaborate form was shifted to Thursdays in the evening. By the year 1980, Carmel Hill was so much frequented on Thursday evening by people even from afar, that it came to be a center for this devotion. The growing crowd brought the need of a bigger place. Hence, the beautiful shrine was constructed and was inaugurated by the former Bishop of Mangaluru Fr Basil D’Souza on May II, 1996.
Elias Fernandes, Stanly Bantwal and others were also present.