St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Kottar:

Next to Goa, where the incorrupt body of St. Francis Xavier is kept, St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, Kottar, in the southern district of KanyaKumari, Tamil Nadu, India, is a centre of pilgrimage in honour of St. Francis Xavier, the greatest post apostolic missionary of the Church and the patron of the missions.

Though thousands of pilgrims throng this hollowed place through the year, over five hundred thousand people (5,000,00) from all over Tamil Nadu and Kerala flock to venerate the Saint during the novena days leading to the feast,- from November 24 to December 3.

Pilgrims from all walks of life and creed visit the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier, Kottar, either to offer their petitions or to thank for the favours received through his intercession. His miraculous intervention in favour of his devotees has been so powerful at this Shrine that it has become almost proverbial to address him endearingly in Tamil ” Kettavaram tharum Kottattu Saveriar, meaning, Xavier of Kottar, is the grantor of all favours”.

KOTTAR:

The Shrine of St. Francis Xavier as well as the ancient town of Kottar now in the municipal town of Nagercoil, the administrative Capital of the District of Kanyakumari, have historical traditions. The commercial and business centre of Nagercoil, is on the bank of the river ” Pazhayaru”, where the river makes a bend, turning towards the south to the sea. Hence the name “Kottaru” in Tamil meaning is the bend of the river. It was a town of importance in the first century of the Christian era when Ptolemy visited and gave it the appellation” Metropolis”. It is also honourably mentioned in periplus of the second century. Kottar, the southern capital of the Venad Kingdom, was also a cosmopolitan town embracing within its orbit people of many castes and creeds. Among the many people in Kottar there was also a colony of Chavalakars, a kin to the Paravars of Cape Comorin region. It was to teach them and their counterparts in Manappadu area, their faith and strengthen them in the Christian way of life that Francis Xavier came to the Southern coast from Goa.

In 1541, Francis Xavier , started his journey from Lisbon in Portugal to India and landed in Goa a year later. After few months of missionary work in Goa, he left for the southern coast. Soon after arriving in Manappadu in Thuthukudi diocese, Francis Xavier started the missionary work by instructing and strengthening them in Catholic faith. In 1544 Francis Xavier was found often in Travancore to protect and help the Christians of Cape Comorin regions who were driven away from their homes by Vadugars. – Under the leadership of Captain Vittal Rao, the Vijayanagar army marched to capture the Venad Kingdom. Pandian and Chola armies joined him. As the news of the Badaga armies marching reached Kottar area, people panicked and had to flee for their lives. Sensing the danger, Francis Xavier, living then in a hut in Kottar, rushed to an elevated area in Vadasery just two kilometers north of Kottar and stood like a colossus holding a cross. Frightened at the sight of a holy man holding a cross, the marauding army retreated heeding to his advice not to march forward. The origin of the Cathedral Church at Kottar begins here: Francis Xavier built a Chapel for Our Lady in the land gifted by the King and used to celebrate Mass there. From Kottar he walked the length and the breadth of the Coastal region instructing and baptizing over 10000 fishermen known as Arasars Mukkuvars from Puvar, now in the Archdiocese of Trivandrum in Kerala to Pallam.