A Brief History of Miraculous St. Anthony’s Church at Thambuchetty Palya

The Church of St. Anthony, situated at Thambuchettypalya near Krishnarajapura, is prominent because of the wonder-worker St. Anthony. The Church has been a source of spirituality to the people of the surrounding areas and has poured out God’s immense graces.Today Church is adorned with modernity apart from vibrant sanctity. Many clerics have strived in building this Shrine of unity in diversity. The glimpse of such clergymen is an inspiration to all of us.  Let’s remember the priests who led the development of our St. Anthony’s Church.The erstwhile Sannathammanahalli was a royal grant bestowed upon Diwan Thambuchetty by then the Maharaja of Mysore Krishnaraja IV. Diwan Thambuchetty being a Catholic built an earthen Church here and accommodated his people around it. Hence the village Sannathammanahalli is named after him.Although this mud Church was built, the people here relied on St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Frazer town for the regular Sunday Mass and other sacraments. Only the marriage and the sacrament of anointing of the sick were administered in this local Church. Diwan Thambuchetty took much care of the Christian devotees; this is recorded on 16th May 1909 by Most Rev. Bishop Bassel.Meanwhile, Fr. Jacksmin who was the chaplain of St. Joseph’s Convent in Bengaluru has taken charge of this village. Two years later, Most Rev. Fr. Gerbier, built another Church beside this mud Church. Then came Fr. Barre as a full-fledged parish priest, renovated these structures at the cost of Rs.  450. 14

On 30th December 1908, this new Church was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Apart from this Fr. Barre opened an aided school in 1916 and brought nuns from St. Anne’s convent. Before the functioning of this aided school Fr. Barre got transferred and Fr. Lavelle dedicated his mission into this village. By then the Diwan handed over the grant deeds of the village to the Church.

Fr. Lavelle opens an aided school in the leadership of Sr. Nathalia, this results in learning revolution in the locality. On behalf of the laity, he convinces Bishop Basel to obtain permission from the government to run classes from grade I to V. Thus St. Theresa’s lower primary school comes into existence.

After Lavell, Fr. Albert Borges took charge of this parish in 1947. Prior to this Fr. Borges was serving as an administrator of Cochin diocese. Upon the arrival of new bishop, Fr. Borges was given a handsome farewell, gifted with a statue of St. Anthony brought from Lisbon. Thereafter Fr. Borges spends his holidays in his hometown in Goa, where the statue of St. Anthony attracts people from all the corners.

By then Fr. Borges was asked to move to TC Palya to take charge from Fr. Lavelle. It was 1947,

Fr. Borges started packing, but unfortunately there was reluctance from the neighbourhood on taking away the statue. With heavy heart Fr. Borges boarded the Bengaluru train. Before the train could arrive at the next station, people came running to return the statue. They were eager to narrate a story that the main opponent was down with heavy fever, but upon taking a vow to handover the statue he was healed. This is how the miraculous statue of St. Anthony came and was installed in this tiny Church on 13th June 1948.

Since then, this statue is a reason for many wonders. Every Tuesday thousands of Christians and non-Christians flock over here to receive graces. Fr. Louis Mascarenhas laid the foundation stone for the mortar structure which houses this miraculous statue. By 14th December 1959 this Church was blessed and opened for the public by Archbishop Thomas Pothacamury.

Fr. Louis upgraded St. Theresa’s school to higher primary school. His major contribution was to bring electricity to the village. His tenure here was a millennium for the village.

Fr. Lawrence Noronha. With the help of St. Anne’s convent and Christa Jyothi College, he founded Shanti Nilaya PHC. In 1970 he opened a post office and worked as a post master too.

Fr. Lawrence Noronha took mother Mary’s statue house to house, conducted rosary decades and brought the alcoholic addicts to mainstream. In honour of Our Lady, he built a grotto.  He also brought city bus service to TC Palya. Put inventive girls into boardings in Bengaluru city and Chikkaballapura.

Fr. JB Fernandes’ regime the Holy Family Church was built in the   Saffragon Ramamurthynagar.

Fr. Jerome Lobo started Grades VIII and IX in 1981 and 1982. When Fr. I Chinnappa took over; Grade X was started. By 1988 he brought govt. aid to High School. He beautified the altar naïve of the stone building. During those days tempos and trucks used to ply through the Church premise. On seeing this Fr. I Chinnappa built a compound and restored the sanctity of the Church. He also built a garden in the Church premise. Bought the lakes around on lease and with profit thus earned he developed the village.

Fr. Jovita D’Souza built a large school building with separate classrooms. In his era, none of the poor children were deprived of education. Later came Fr. Martin Kumar and extended the school further. He constructed compound around the ground adjacent to the Church and also the two acres of open land stretched in between church and cemetery (Now the playground of St. Anthony’s public school).

Fr. A S Antony Swamy built an elegant garden in the midst of coconut grove with niches depicting St. Anthony’s life chronicles. The centre of attraction of this garden is the 25 Ft. high monolithic statue of St. Anthony. The garden is the fascinating place to escape from daily hardships and take the beauty of the natural world. Walking through arbours covered in colourful flowering vines to an exquisite display of wild greenery can be so restorative to the body and soul as well as depict phenomenal of St. Antony. That’s just the beginning of what these spectacular wonders have to offer.

20 sculptures were called from West Bengal to sculpt Stations of the Cross around the old Church. The stations were variously described and were seen as dignified, showing admirable breadth and simplicity of design.

Fr. T Bernard built a new presbytery and a sculpture of Jesus’s baptism.  He put up a fountain and also erected an arch with steel gates at the entrance of the Church. Renovated the dilapidated garden and installed a resurrection statue. By then the population of the parish swelled to more than 2000 families. Hence the old mortar Church couldn’t accommodate the faithful.

But this gigantic temple of God was completed on the arrival of Fr. G Mariappa. Archbishop Bernard Moras formally blessed and inaugurated the Church on 1st November 2009. Fr. G Mariappa was also the man behind the opening of an English medium high school and a junior college.

The old mortar Church was modified as the Adoration Chapel and Shrine of St. Antony. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a means of focusing our hearts and minds in prayer, with attention affixed on the Mystery of the Eucharistic presence of Christ. Every member will feel drawn to spend time in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. When we set a time aside to adore Him, He will heal our hearts and multiply our efforts of forming intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.

Shrine of St. Antony, Fr. Borges was given a handsome farewell, by Bishop and gifted with a statue of St. Anthony brought from Lisbon. Thereafter Fr. Borges installed the statue in the tiny Church in the long since. The statue had its own history in the past and now the statue got a place of honour in the Shrine. The Shrine started attracting many devotees because of the phenomenal of St. Antony.

Fr. L Arulappa served here from 2015-2021. With the help of the youth team, he fixed the colourful posters of the rosary mysteries on the interior walls of the church and Jesus’ miracles around the altar. He housed St. Anthony’s statue in a glass dome in a rosewood ornamental stand and erected a brass Flag post in front of the Church.

Now, Msgr. C Francis, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Bangalore took over as the Parish Priest on 22nd August 2021. From the day he took over, many developmental activities geared up in the Parish, beginning from the renovation of the Presbytery and fixing up CCTV cameras in and around the Church campus for the security purpose. Certainly, we will be witnessing much progression in the coming days. This grace-filled parish has six seminaries and several convents. It has gifted the mother church with almost 11 priests. Since 1937 this church has witnessed more than 2000 marriages. The graveyard of 7 acres land is the ultimate home for the catholic souls for several parishes around.

1. Chowri Muthu (Archdiocese of Bangalore)
2. Selvaraj (Kurnool Diocese)
3. Alphonse (Kurnool Diocese)
4. Anthony Raj
5. Edward David (Archdiocese of Bangalore)
6. Cyril Victor (Archdiocese of Bangalore)
7. Vincent Santosh (Archdiocese of Bangalore)
8. Francis Xavier (Archdiocese of Bangalore)
9. Jayaprakash (Benedictine Monastery)
10. Jesudas (Salesians)
11. George Gabriel (Piarist)