St.Anthony's Shrine - Mettuguda 4.73

***BRIEF HISTORY OF ST.ANTHONY’S SHRINE, METTUGUDA***

The early years of St.Anthony’s Shrine had a humble beginning in 1925 with a small prayer group of 15 Tamil families who installed the miraculous statue of St.Anthony and celebrated a novena in his honour at Modi’s Compound, Mettuguda. St.Anthony Bhajan Society was established on 17.03.1928 under the guidance of Fr.Tinti Giuseppe PIME, then priest-in-charge of Lallaguda. The Bhajan Society was named, Punidha Anthoniyar Bhajanai Koodam which initially operated from Batkammagunta. Later, it was shifted to George Health Camp South Lallaguda, and finally, to North Lallaguda where it was defunct for some time.
The Bhajan Society was revived in 1942 and was led by Mr.A.D.Anthony, but Fr.Giovanni Seminati PIME, then parish priest of Lallaguda, never approved of it. In 1950, the Bhajan Society shifted to Modi’s Compound with the help of Mr. M.K. Modie and Mr.W.S.Roberts. A nominal monthly rent of Rs.10/- was paid to Mr.Modie by the Society. Since many people started flocking to the shrine, Fr.Joseph D’Souza purchased the land from Mr.Modie in 1954 and registration it in the name of the Bhajan Society of which the parish priest of Lallaguda was the Spiritual Director. In the same year, a primary school was started, but due to insufficient place, it was shifted to the Sacred Heart Church premises. The Passion Play, a drama written by Mr.Arokiaswamy and Mr.T.Joseph, was staged on Good Friday 1956 for the first time (director Amala Anthony; harmonist George Sebastian; Gnanaprakasham stage and light in-charge; Magimaidass as Jesus). From 1962 “private tunes” were introduced into the drama.
Over a period of tim, thousands of people of different religions were visiting this shrine and receiving abundant blessings. Hence, the Parish Priest of Lallaguda intended to construct a Church in a suitable place. Mrs.Clara Peters, then residing in Australia, donated her land to Fr.Yeruva Bali, the parish priest of Sacred Heart Church, to build a church in honour of St.Anthony. Unfortunately, Fr.Bali was transferred and Fr.Bandanadam Julian took over the parish in 1972. The devotees appraised the new parish priest about the favours received through the intercession of St.Anthony. It didn’t take very long for him to make a decision. So with the assistance of the devotees and the people of Mettuguda Fr.Julian undertook the construction of the new building.
On 23.08.1975 the miraculous Statue of St.Anthony was shifted to the new Church and on the next day Archbishop Samineni Arulappa blessed the new Church. Mettuguda was erected as an independent parish on 24.08.1977 with Fr.Pancras Fernando as its parish priest. The credit for the exponential growth of the devotion of St.Anthony goes to Mr.A.D.Anthony, catechist of the shrine since 1942. Even in the absence of the priest for all these years, he single-handedly conducted all the devotions and novenas, spiritually and meaningfully. He continued to be the catechist even at the new Church.
On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee (celebrated on 15.02.1978) of the Bhajan Society, Archbishop Luciano Storero, then Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to India exhorts (Prot. No. 3703/77 dt. 10.12.1977), “those who use their God-given talents to contribute to a more fruitful and active participation in the liturgy of the Church through the music of their country deserve to be encouraged.” The highlight of the Bhajan Society was the “Passion Play” in Tamil at the Sacred Heart Church grounds enacted every year for almost 50 years. Arutkavi T Joseph, resident of Pakkalicheri, Trimulgherry was the ‘wathiar’ (composer and teacher) for the Bhajan Society from 1942 until his death in 1963. Bhaktan Francis Solomon accepted the responsibility of ‘wathiar’ from 15.08.1976. Unfortunately, the Passion Play had to be given up when some of the key members left the Catholic church. With the demise of most of the long standing members, the Bhajan Society now operates on a very low key.
Due to the efforts of Fr.Chinnabathini Chinnaiah, the front portion of the church was extended to accommodate more devotees. The statue of Infant Jesus was installed in front of the Church and the old grotto was beautified. The stage with exquisite cement carvings was constructed for outdoor liturgical services. Fr.Madanu Joseph took charge of the parish on 12.05.2007 and has laid special emphasis on strengthening of the basic faith of the community and not just on mere religiosity and popular devotions Fr.Yeruva Joji Reddy took charge of the parish on 06.05.2010 and continued the faith formation of the community with the help of the parish clergy consisting of Fr.Dion Isaac - Co-Pastor, Fr. Praveen Kumar - Assistant Parish Priest and Fr.Vijay - Co-Pastor The highlight of the parish is the Annual feast of St.Anthony which is celebrated with fervor and devotion every year on the 13th of June. Besides, every Tuesday devotees from different faith come to the shrine to honour St.Anthony amd make their petitions.