Our story
Thirty families, and a Silver Jubilee
For many years the Catholic families of Muthamizh Nagar belonged to the parish of Madhavaram, and travelled some distance for Sunday Mass. As Kodungaiyur grew — and particularly as the housing board neighbourhoods filled with young families — it became clear that this corner of north Chennai needed a church of its own.
The church began in 1989, gathered around just thirty families who wanted a place of their own to pray. It grew steadily from there, and in 2001 the Archdiocese of Madras–Mylapore raised it to a parish in its own right. In 2026 the parish keeps its Silver Jubilee — twenty-five years as a parish, and thirty-seven annual feasts.
Most of our parishioners still live within a short walk of the church, in the streets and flats around it.
The church that stands today — the white façade, the tall open bell tower, the gilded dome and the shrine at the gate — has grown by stages, built and beautified through the offerings of ordinary families. Almost everything you see was paid for a little at a time by the people who pray in it.
We would like to record this history properly — the founding priest, the blessing of the church, the raising of the bell tower and the kodimaram. If you hold photographs, documents or memories from the parish’s early years, please share them with the parish office.
Milestones
How the parish has grown
Dates marked to be confirmed are awaiting the parish records.
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Before 1989
Part of Madhavaram parish
The Catholic families of Muthamizh Nagar and Kodungaiyur are served from Madhavaram, gathering locally for prayer and travelling out for Sunday Mass.
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1989
Thirty families begin
Our Lady of Health Church is begun through the effort of the local faithful, with thirty families at its centre. The first annual feast follows in 1990.
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2001
Raised to a parish
Seeing the zeal of the people and the growth of the community, the Archdiocese of Madras–Mylapore raises Our Lady of Health, Muthamizh Nagar, to a parish in its own right. Rev. Fr. Jebamalai Dharmanathan is its first parish priest.
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To be confirmed
The church is built and blessed
The present church, bell tower and sanctuary are completed. We are seeking the exact dates and the name of the bishop who blessed it.
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To be confirmed
The shrine and the kodimaram
The gilded shrine at the gate and the golden flag mast, from which the feast flag is hoisted each September, are added.
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2026
Silver Jubilee
Twenty-five years as a parish, kept alongside the 37th annual feast. A commemorative souvenir is published to mark it.
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Today
A full parish life
Daily Mass, catechism for the children, anbiyam groups meeting street by street, a choir, altar servers, the Legion of Mary — and a feast each 8 September that lights up the whole neighbourhood.
Our patroness
Our Lady of Health
Arokiya Madha — Our Lady of Good Health — is the title under which Mary is most loved in Tamil Nadu. It comes from Velankanni, a fishing town on the Coromandel coast some 350 kilometres south of Chennai, where three events across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries gave rise to a devotion that has never faded.
The first was a shepherd boy who gave milk to a lady with a child and found his jug still full. The second was a lame boy selling buttermilk who rose and walked. The third was a Portuguese ship caught in a storm in the Bay of Bengal, whose crew invoked Our Lady as Star of the Sea and came ashore safely on 8 September, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In thanksgiving they built her a chapel of brick and mortar.
The shrine that grew from those beginnings was raised to a minor basilica by Pope John XXIII in 1962, who called it “the Lourdes of the East.” Its annual novena, from 29 August to 8 September, draws pilgrims in their millions — of every faith, arriving on foot, in fulfilment of vows made in illness and difficulty.
To be a parish named for Our Lady of Health is to inherit that trust: that the Mother of God does not turn away the sick, the frightened or the poor. Our statue is robed in a gold saree in the Velankanni manner, and our parish feast is kept on her birthday, 8 September.
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Luke 1:42
Who serves here
Clergy & parish council
Parish priest
Rev. Fr. Y. S. Arokia Raj is the parish priest of Our Lady of Health, Muthamizh Nagar.
To speak with the parish priest, please telephone 89409 88516 or 94447 68516, ring the parish on 044 2554 6050, or call in at the office after Mass.
Parish council
The parish council assists the parish priest in the pastoral and administrative life of the parish, and represents the anbiyams and associations.
Member names to be confirmed.
Those who have served here
Our parish priests
The names are recorded on a painted board inside the church. Every one of these priests shaped the parish that stands today.
| Years | Parish priest |
|---|---|
| 2001 – 2002 | Rev. Fr. Jebamalai Dharmanathan |
| 2002 – 2008 | Rev. Fr. A. Thomas |
| 2008 – 2009 | Rev. Fr. Chinnappa Karasala |
| 2009 – 2010 | Rev. Fr. Vijay Kiran |
| 2010 – 2011 | Rev. Fr. C. Joseph |
| 2011 – 2014 | Rev. Fr. Henry Felix |
| 2014 – | Rev. Fr. D. Arulraj |
| Present |
Rev. Fr. Y. S. Arokia Raj
Not yet added to the board |
- Parish
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Our Lady of Health Church, Muthamizh Nagar
புனித ஆரோக்கிய அன்னை ஆலயம் - Archdiocese
- Madras – Mylapore
- Established
- Begun in 1989 with thirty families; raised to a parish in 2001
- Patroness
- Our Lady of Health (Arokiya Madha, Annai Velankanni)
- Parish feast
- 8 September — Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Kept as a ten days feast from 29 August.
- Rite & languages
- Roman Rite; Mass celebrated in Tamil
- Address
- R, 6/69, North Avenue, Muthamizh Nagar, Kodungaiyur, Chennai 600118
- Parish priest
- Rev. Fr. Y. S. Arokia Raj
- Telephone
- 044 2554 6050, 89409 88516, 94447 68516
Come and pray with us
The church is open from six in the morning. All are welcome.