Our Heritage
From the arrival of St. Francis Xavier to the Golden Car processions that still line the streets of Pearl City, the story of Our Lady of Snows Basilica in Tuticorin is written in centuries of devotion, miracle, and pilgrimage.
With a thirst to minister to souls in Pearl City, St. Francis Xavier arrived in Tuticorin. From little children to elders, he catechized all, healed the sick, and brought many to new life in Christ. The new Christians joyfully embraced him as their spiritual father.
On June 9, at the request of St. Francis Xavier, a beautiful and miraculous statue of Our Lady of Snows journeyed from the Augustinian convent in Manila to Tuticorin aboard the ship ‘Chandala’.
On August 5, the shrine of the Mother of Mercy was consecrated as the Church of Our Lady of Snows by the Bishop of Cochin, Most Rev. Tevora. Each year the titular feast is celebrated on August 5, recalling the miraculous summer snowfall on the Esquiline Hill in Rome (AD 352) that led to the founding of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
On April 4, Our Lady bore a terrible lightning strike upon herself and miraculously saved the people of Tuticorin. The furious bolt that threatened to incinerate the city was absorbed by her statue, which turned a deep blue. Fr. Vigilius Mansi and his assistants, praying before her, survived unharmed — a wonder attested by the priest himself.
On August 5, a new church for Our Lady of Snows was constructed and blessed, continuing the legacy of devotion that had grown around the miraculous statue.
Long connected to their ancestral temples and customs, the Catholic faithful — once troubled by these ties — built a magnificent Catholic temple car. For the first time, Our Lady of Snows, ‘Dasnavis Mata’, was drawn in a Golden Car procession through the streets of Pearl City.
On August 5, Pope John XXIII affiliated the shrine with the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, deepening its bond with the mother basilica of Our Lady of the Snows.
On July 30, in the 400th year of the church, Pope John Paul II elevated the shrine to the dignity of a Minor Basilica — a moment of grace and recognition for centuries of faith.
The Golden Car is not drawn on a fixed schedule of years, but only in years of special and historical significance. Here are the years when Our Lady processed through Pearl City:
Across generations and peoples, Our Lady of Snows has been loved under countless titles:
