By John B Monteiro

Karkala, Feb 22: The annual feast of St Lawrence of Karkala (Karla for Tulus) more precisely Attur and now a Basilica, is scheduled from February 20 to 24. For over 120 years, devotees of St Lawrence had been going on annual pilgrimage to St Lawrence Church (Basilica) at Attur-Karkala, from as far away as Mangalore in the west and up the ghats in the east, on foot or by bullock carts earlier, covering a distance of 54 KM from Mangaluru. The annual feast of the shrine, during the second half of February, takes the dimensions of a jathra and a great mela, when devotees and boon-seekers across religions congregate at the Basilica complex during the celebrations. High dignitaries of the church, like bishops, are listed to lead the Masses, prayers and preach during the five days of the feast.

The Basilica is now more precisely called St Lawrence Basilica, Attur. But it still has Karkala tag in the minds of devotees at large in Tulu Nadu. That is because the basilica has a nomadic past and an unusual Saint as its patron. We will start with the Saint’s brief background and his movements of his image in the Karkala area till it stayed put at Attur.

Born in the third century AD, Lawrence is supposed to be a Spaniard who landed in Rome and was mentored by Xystus, who was the Archdeacon, in scriptures and maxims of Christian perfection. When this mentor became the Pope in 257, he appointed Lawrence as Archdeacon, despite being the youngest among seven deacons. He was put in charge of the treasury and assigned to distribute the revenues among the poor.

At this juncture, Emperor Valerian published edicts condemning all religious leaders to death. In 258, Pope Xystus was apprehended and marched away to be martyred. As he was being taken away as captive, the Pope instructed Lawrence to distribute all church treasures among the poor of Rome. He hurriedly distributed the entire treasure by seeking out the poor from the lanes and by-lanes of Rome.

The emperor’s Prefect (like a Governor) in Rome was set to lay his hands on the Church’s famed treasures and asked Lawrence to give an account of them pending forfeiture. Lawrence asked for three days’ time to show the treasures. Going all over Rome, he gathered the poor, beggars and handicapped persons and assembled them in one place. Then, on the third day, he invited the Prefect and, pointing out to the vast assembly, declared that they were the treasures of the Church. An insulted and enraged Prefect ordered that Lawrence be put to death by burning him, bound with chains, on a gridiron, over live coals. He endured this slow death with peaceful composure and died with a smile on his face. Looking at the scene, seven Senators embraced Christianity and organised Lawrence’s burial near the road to Tibur, on August 10, 258. Now the Basilica of St. Lawrence stands over his grave in Italy.

The Karkal-Attur Parish is said to have been in existence even before 1759 and the church was located at a place about 7 KM from the present basilica. Tippu Sultan of Mysore, during the great captivity of Christians (1784-1799), demolished the church, along with other churches all over Tulu Nadu. On being freed from captivity after the British defeated Tippu in 1799, the returned Christians built a church, in 1801, somewhere on the way to Nakre. In 1839, another church was built at a place about 4 KM from the earlier church. This was situated behind the present church and faced west.

How the church came to be established on this spot has an interesting story. As the church on the way to Nakre was too old to be used, the devotees of St Lawrence, led by a Goan priest, went in search of a suitable site to build a new church, carrying with them a one-foot wooden statue of St. Lawrence. They prayed to the saint to guide them in the choice of a place for raising a church in his honour. Coming down the woods of ‘Parpal’ hills, they reached Attur and halted near a spring flowing at the base of the hill. Having quenched their thirst and after some rest, they were ready to resume their journey. But, as they went to pick up the statue of St. Lawrence, it wouldn’t come off the ground. Realising that the saint would want them to build the church there, they promised to build one. At this point, the statue came off the ground and the church was built, in 1839, and the rest is history.

The present modern church is built in front of old church which is also being used for worship. The new church is 125ft long, 97ft wide and is suitable for accommodating 2,500 devotees. It has an impressive front façade rising to a height of 90ft.

Postscript

The composite Mangalore diocese, comprising Mangalore and Udupi districts, was divided into two, Mangalore and Udupi dioceses, on October 15, 2012 with Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo heading newly carved out Udupi diocese. St Lawrence basilica (now), where strong devotion to St. Lawrence is well entrenched, continues its historical role. Incidentally, not all need to go to the shrine. Some land, loan and other disputes are settled by swearing in the name of the saint.

So, St Lawrence church at Bondel, on the Mangalore-Airport Road, now set to celebrate its centenary in 2023, started weekly (Tuesdays) novenas. It is gaining devotees over the last decade. On Tuesdays, the novena is conducted after the daily 6.30 AM Mass and a more elaborate Mass and novena starting at 10.30 AM is followed by lunch for devotees.