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= Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church -Covelong = Summary

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine, Covelong (Kovalam), Kanchipuram.It is established in 1808, by sir JOHN D'MONDE as a token of a miraculous favour he received from God, and renovated in 1999. And on 14 April 2013, Bishop of Chengalput declared The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmal at Covalong (Kovalam) to the status of A Diocesan Shrine. And the tower Bell imported from Poland which weights 270 kgs

Reference websites Plot

Rev. Fr. Carmalata started the construction of this Church at Covelong (Kovalam) some time between 1770 – 1780. He laid the foundation, raised the walls and died. The church remained incomplete for about 20 years. Sir. John D’ Monte completed the construction of this church between 1800 – 1808. It was erected as a Parish in 1808. According to the Covelong tradition, certain Mrs. Mary D’ Monte who was in a state of mental aberration left Madras and wandered about in Covelong. Our Lady appeared to Sir. John D’ Monte and promised to heal his wife Mrs. Mary D’ Monte, if he would build a church in her honour in Covelong. Accordingly the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is situated on the shores Bay of Bengal. The Parish Annual Feast is celebrated on 16th July. The year 2008, marked the bicentenary of this traditional Parish.

History of Sir John De monte

A life full of tragedy. Money so huge involved. Hundreds of acres of land in the heart of the city all willed to a church. Spooky roads. Welcome to the life and times of John De Monte. The biggest benefactor of the Mylapore Archdiocese. The man rumoured to still haunt the De Monte Colony.

He smiles in the picture hanging at the church museum in Santhome. A sad smile not quite reaching his eyes. He was a celebrated Portuguese merchant when he entered Madras after his successful stint at Pondicherry. Married into the rich German Bilderbeck family. The Bilderbecks were pearl merchants in Madras who even had an indigo factory at Colachel, Travancore. Mary Bilderbeck De Monte gave birth to Christopher De Monte, the son who was to have carried forward the De Monte clan.

In 1810, at the age of 16, Christopher was sent to England for further studies where he was struck with intermittent malaria. Still, the French Revolution intrigued him and he set out a travel around the continent in 1815. He attended the Ball that Lady Richmond gave in Brussels for the Duke of Wellington on the eve of Battle of Waterloo. He was an amateur guitarist who struck an unusual friendship with Mauro Giuliani, the famed musician and composer who gifted him the guitar handed over to him by Empress Marie-Louise. The guitar and his handwritten letter to Christopher have been discovered recently.

In 1816, Christopher had an untimely death- probably in a duel just when he was about to leave for Madras. It was his bones that reached the grieving John De Monte. Mary De Monte went mentally deranged after the incident, roamed the streets of Madras, while John owned 500 acres of prime land and posh garden houses, including the Mowbray's Cupola that now houses the Madras Club.

Mary had wandered off to Covelong and John is supposed to have tracked her down and built her a house there to pacify the poor woman. He also built the Our Lady of Mount Carmel church in the same place, hoping it would cure his wife. Conflicting theories emerge if Mary was cured, but finally, John bequeathed all his property to the Archdiocese of Mylapore- Santhome to care for them and use the lease/rental proceeds for charities.

The current De Monte Colony, Benz Gardens, Madras Club and its adjoining 105 acres, all belong to the De Monte Trust. The spooky stories around the De Monte colony started when the Trust tried to lease out afresh the colony. The rumours have failed to die down. Pet dogs and watchmen keep dying. People have vacated the colony in droves and its bare walls and houses with overgrown weeds now stand desolate testimony of a wretched life. John died in 1821 and his body remains buried in the Mount Carmel Chapel, Covelong, along with his son's bones. No one knows what happened to the poor Mary De Monte.

John De Monte's life just goes on to prove that money can't buy everything. History has taught us today

Other information

By the grace and intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, D' Monte who used to be a small-time merchant progressed to become a millionaire. In his will he dedicated all his wealth and land resources in and around Chennai and Kovalam to the Archdiocese of MadrasMylapore. The place where he lived was named after him as “D' Monte Kuppam” and changed over the years due to colloquial usage and is now being called, “Dumeen Kuppam”. Since the day the church was built and consecrated, devotees from Chennai and places around started thronging to Our Lady of Mount Carmel's church and celebrated her feast for 10 days (from flag hoisting to lowering of the flag). Since there were no roadways to Kovalam those days, people commuted through the backwaters by boats. Multitudes of devotees wholeheartedly who sought our Lady's intercession have been blessed abundantly over the years. During the period 1881-1887 only three Catholic families existed in Kovalam. But today it has grown to be a big parish consisting of 200 families. Our gracious mother Mary's statue brought from Portugal is placed at the sanctum of the church. This statue depicts Mother Mary with child Jesus being held in her right hand. In order to augment the increasing number of parishioners, and frequent visits of devotees, Rev.Fr. P.K.Mathew remolded the patio of the church. to create more space for people to spend their time in prayer. This structure was completed in the year 2002 and consecrated by the Auxillary Bishop of Madras – Mylapore Rev. Dr. Lawrence Piuz. The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated on the following Saturday after th July 16 every year.

Reference Website

http://cloudninetalks.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-life-of-john-de-monte-spooky.html

https://indiapl.com/tamil-nadu/carmel-matha-church-291489

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