Mount Mary Church, Bandra, Mumbai

Mount Mary Church, Bandra, Mumbai

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, more commonly known as Mount Mary Church, is a Roman Catholic church located in Bandra West, Mumbai was built initially around 1640 by the Portuguese.  The church is one of the most visited churches in the city. It is very close to Bandstand. Every September, the feast of St. Mary is celebrated on the first Sunday after 8 September, the birthday of the Virgin Mary. This is a week long celebration known as the 'Bandra Fair' and is visited by thousands of people.

The church stands on a hillock, about 80 metres above sea level overlooking the Arabian Sea. It draws lakhs of devotees and pilgrims annually. Many of the faithful attest to the miraculous powers of St. Mary. The shrine attracts people from all faiths who pray to Virgin Mary for expressing their gratitude or requesting favours.

During the Bandra Fair, the entire area is decorated with festoons and buntings. Many pitch up stalls selling religious articles, roasted grams, snacks and sweets. Wax figures of the Virgin Mary, along with an assortment of candles shaped like hands, feet and various other parts of the body are sold at kiosks. The sick and the suffering choose a candle or wax figure that corresponds to their ailment and light it in Church, with the pious hope that Mother Mary will consider their appeals for help.

Although the current church edifice is just 100 years old, the history behind the current statue of Our Lady goes back to the 16th century when Jesuit priests from Portugal brought the statue to the current location and constructed a chapel. In 1700 Arab pirates interested in the gold-lined object held in the hand disfigured the statue by cutting off the right hand. Apart from the main statue, there is another statue of Mother Mary installed outside the church, in front of which people light candles and pray for the welfare of their near and dear ones.

In 1760, the church was rebuilt and the statue was substituted with a statue of Our Lady of Navigators in St. Andrew's church nearby. This statue has an interesting legend. It goes that a Koli fisherman dreamt that he would find a statue in the sea. The statue was found floating in the sea between 1700 and 1760. A Jesuit Annual Letter dated to 1669 and published in the book St. Andrew's Church, Bandra (1616-1966] supports this claim. The Koli Fishermen call the statue as Mot Mauli, literally meaning The Pearl Mother (Mot= Moti= pearl and Mauli= Mother). Both Hindu and Christian Kolis visit this shrine often giving it a kind of syncretic nature. In 1761, the original statue was renovated with a child in her arms and is worshiped here ever since.

Here is the Mount Mary Prayer:-

Hail Mother, full of grace divine,
Sweet Mary of the Mount,
With fervor we approach thy Shrine,
On thy protective count.

Take us, O Mother by the hand,
These pilgrims faint and weak,
And guide our footsteps to that land,
Th' eternal home we seek.