Places · Chapel
St. Mary's Chapel, Valiyangadi
A wayside chapel in the middle of Valiyangadi, at Fatima Corner, rebuilt more than a hundred years ago with what is said to be Aranattukara's first concrete beam.
Photo to come
In Kerala a small kappela (wayside chapel) often stands a little way from the parish church, a place where passers-by stop, light a candle and say a prayer. St. Mary’s Chapel is Aranattukara’s best known. It stands beside the main road in the middle of Valiyangadi, at the spot now called Fatima Corner.
An old chapel, rebuilt
People believe the first chapel here is as old as the parish church itself. Tradition says it was built by a local master builder, Miyyalutty Mesthri, whose name was once carved on a plaque.
Early in the twentieth century the chapel was rebuilt by Chungath Rappai Thomakutty, then a lay trustee of the church. The book credits him with casting the first reinforced concrete beam in Aranattukara, at a time when builders still made arches of laterite. More than a century later, the chapel is still sound.
Inside
The chapel keeps a picture of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, seated in a chair with the infant Jesus on her lap. Its main celebration marks the end of the Vanakkamasam (the month of Marian devotion), when the chapel is lit up and pachoru (sweet rice porridge) is shared as an offering.
The book calls the chapel a witness to the years when the parish was divided, and to the day the quarrel ended.
Do you have old photographs of the chapel, or know more about its history? We would like to hear from you.
