Brief History of Khairatabad Shrine Parish

Saifabad community was under the spiritual care of St. Joseph’s Cathedral Church. There was a small community here around the year 1890. In 1898, Captain Fallon, the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Infantry of the Nizam’s army permitted the construction of a Chapel (vide Lt. No. A/17-7/43F/182, of Lieut. Col. of 3rd Bn., Hyderabad Infantry, dt. 20th September, 1938) to serve the personnel in AC Guards. The letter states, “… sanction by Army Head-Quarters was awarded to construct the Church in the military area in 1898…”

In 1903, “the 3 Infantry returned from Sholapur and was quartered here permanently” (vide letter of Mr. Caesar, Retired Troop Officer, August 1920). Fr. Dante Magri in his letter dated 12th October, 1938 states that “…the construction of the little Chapel began in 1898 and cost was Rs. 3,500/-; it was rebuilt by Fr. L. Malberti on May 1903 for the spiritual benefit of the Catholics belonging to the African Cavalier Guards (AC Guards) and to the 3rd Infantry.” Though the rebuilt Chapel was ready by December 1903, it was inaugurated on 10th January, 1904 by Bishop Vigano to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The Chapel was originally known as the “Church of Our Lady of Divine Grace”. According to Fr. Passoni, the first Parish Priest of Our Lady of Health Church (letter dated 11th June, 1938 to the executive engineer), “A sum of Rs. 1028/- and 12 annas was the contribution received from the people (including Rs. 5/- from Bishop Vigano and Rs. 5/- from Fr. Vismara) towards the construction of the Chapel, though the actual cost of construction was Rs. 3500/-”.

The Vestry attached to the Church was built later by Fr. Cantaluppi during Fr. Pagani’s tenure as Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Mass was celebrated in the Chapel only on Sundays. The annual feast of “Our Lady of Health” has been celebrated from the year 1904 with ‘much grandeur’. It was during that time that ‘dumb box’ collection was introduced and the first collection was Rs. 50/-. “Fr. Malberti was quite surprised at such a collection as he did not know what a ‘dumb box’ was”, recalls Mr. Caesar.

Further extension was granted in 1927. All the while, Khairatabad continued to be a Sub-station of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Hyderabad. In 1936, Fr. Passoni PIME, who had just come from China, was appointed in-charge of Saifabad. He resided at the Cathedral and provided pastoral care to the people of Saifabad. In the letter dated 12th October, 1938 Fr. Magri, Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Cathedral wrote to the Commanding Officer of the H.E.H. the Nizam’s A.B.G.S., that Fr. Pagani started a School in 1912, “for Christian education of children unable to attend a Catholic School”. It was run in the Chapel till 1938. They do not know what happened to this school, since there is no mention of it later. In 1938, the Parish house was built and Fr. Passoni came to live among his people. In 1939, it was interned out of Hyderabad during the war. He returned to Hyderabad in 1944. But due to certain difficulties with the Hyderabad Army he was transferred at the end of 1947.

In the ‘History of Khairatabad Parish’ Fr. Roch wrote, “Fr. Passoni was appointed Parish Priest in 1939 and the Parish returned to the custody of the Cathedral during his internship during the world war”. Yet, Bishop Vismara in an official letter states, “The New Parish of Our Lady of Health, Saifabad which has been separated from the Cathedral Parish of St. Joseph, Hyderabad was erected as New and independent Parish on 24th September, 1941 has the following boundaries …”

Fr. Xavier Roch (born on 13th December, 1901) the Vice-Principal of All Saints’ High School and Assistant Parish Priest of St. Joseph’s Cathedral was asked to take charge of Saifabad in 1947. He served as Parish Priest for 27 long years. In the meantime the local Catholic population increased, besides the growing number of pilgrims who came to this Chapel dedicated to our Lady of Health. The ‘Small Chapel’ became too small to accommodate all the Parishioners especially on Sundays. Hence, in 1950, the Grotto was built and Sunday Eucharistic celebrations were held at the Grotto. With the further growth of the local Catholic Community and the increase in the number of pilgrims, the need for a bigger Church and more open land was felt.

In 1951, Fr. Roch asked for and obtained allotment of two plots of land from the Government, one (in front of the present Church) measuring 3413.33 square yards (vide Chief Secretary’s letter No. 177/GAD-G/202/51 dated 11th May, 1951) and the other (where Vijay Marie Hospital stands) measuring 2971.44 square yards of Army land, allotted to the Church authorities (vide letter no. 2731/129-L-51A, dated 12th April, 1952).

In 1951, a Hospital with 20 beds was built and called “Vijaya Marie Hospital”. The doctor in-charge was Dr. I. D’souza, later known as Dr. Mrs. Rebello. Later the Hospital was handed over to the Sisters of Charity (SCCG). Since then several additions have been made to the Hospital. Today it is a prominent Hospital with 200 beds. Holy Mary School also was handed over and shifted to the present location after being ‘under the trees’ in the Church premises for some time. Fr. Roch’s devotion to our Blessed Mother is legendary. Thus he sold off his family property in Malaysia and after giving away proportionate shares to his brother and sister planned a unique Octagonal Church in honour of our Blessed Mother. Its foundation stone was laid on 27th December, 1954 by the Nizam of Hyderabad, HEH Mir Osman Ali Khan Fateh Jung. It took five years to complete it and was inaugurated by the same Nizam after being blessed by Archbishop Mark Gopu, on 15th September, 1959 in the presence of five other bishops. The total cost of the construction was approximately Rs. 1,50,000/-.

Mr. Anthony Dass Israel recalls, “In those days a mini candle factory was run by the youth under the guidance of the Parish Priest. The profits were used towards the construction of the Church. People not only voluntarily donated towards Church construction but even offered their manual labour at times of need. Many people were under the impression that the Nizam donated a huge amount to the Church, in fact, not a single rupee was donated, except some Chandeliers. In his address to the Nizam on the foundation laying ceremony, Fr. Roch said that the funds came from poor people and widows. Fr. Roch also initiated the “Catholic Young Men’s Club” (CYMC) for youth and adults of the Parish. The club was an asset to the Parish. It also had some non-Catholics as honorary members. The CYMC organized charity and benefit shows had Christmas hamper and ran canteen during the annual feast. The profits thus earned were used for the construction of the Church i.e. a major portion of the verandah roofing. The procession Cart used during the feast was designed and donated by S & T Workshop, Mettuguda.

At the time of its erection in 1941, the area of the Parish was indeed vast. After 1972, it has been a Parent to St. Theresa’s Church (Sanathnagar), St. Ignatius Church (Gagillapuram), Immaculate Conception Church (Kukatpally), St. Michael’s Church (Golconda), Don Bosco Church (Himayatsagar), St. Alphonsus Church (Banjara Hills) and St. Anthony’s Church (Bazar Ghat). Fr. Roch also started the Legion of Mary presidium under the title Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He greatly encouraged children; most of them became members of YCW/ YCS members. Mr. Joshua was his trusted Catechist for a longtime. The old Church was in a dilapidated condition. It had to be rebuilt. In 1971, rebuilding work was undertaken and on 13th June, 1973 the Church was blessed and inaugurated by Archbishop Samineni Arulappa. The cost of the Chapel was about Rs. 25,000/-. About this time, there was also the need for a Parish Hall. Thus a first floor building was erected at the cost of Rs. 45,000/-. The pilgrims’ shed costing Rs. 25,000/- was also put up in the Church premises. All funds came from Church collections.

Fr. Roch wrote, “Now with an energetic and active young Priest, Fr. Yeddanapalli M. Joseph, that year 1974, a Vijay Marie School in the Parish Hall has been started with only one class, the 4 standard about 50 students are attending.” This School was later renamed “Fr. Roch Memorial High School.” It was during Fr. Roch’s tenure that Vijay Marie Hospital, Holy Mary School, St. Theresa’s Church, Sanathnagar and St. Anthony’s Chapel, Bazar Ghat were built and nurtured. “The more one loves, the more one spends himself. He gradually destroys oneself in the service of the one he loves, consciously and deliberately. The power of Divine Love is not hindered by anything in the world. This is how one has to characterize Fr. Roch’s life”, was the tribute given to this ‘architect’ of the Parish community in his birth centenary souvenir. He was not only a builder of buildings, but builder of people and communities. He was constantly on his feet visiting his people. It was when he was returning after one such family visit that he met with an accident at about 9.30 p.m. on 12th August, 1974. He died on 14th August, 1974 at 2.30 p.m. in Osmania Hospital. The artillery Centre sent 100 men for the supervision of the funeral. People from all walks of life paid their last respects to the ‘great son of Khairatabad’. Amidst a sea of humanity, even Muslims paid their respects, including the Mullah of the Mosque who laid a huge garland on the coffin.

Though Khairatabad Church has been a Shrine of Our Lady of Health since 1904 only a few attempts were made to build a Parish Hall and create facilities for Pilgrims. One serious attempt was made in 1980 during Fr. Benny as Parish Priest. Archbishop Samineni Arulappa laid the foundation stone, but the Pilgrim Centre remained only a dream. Fr. Thumma Arla as Parish Priest renovated the Presbytery. He also renovated the old Chapel. When Fr. Yeddanapalli M. Joseph was Parish Priest in 1997, the Parish Pastoral Council reminded him about the long pending Project of Pilgrim Centre. Initially Archbishop Samineni Arulappa promised to contribute 40% of the total cost. Though financial help was not given, the construction was undertaken with the savings of the Shrine, generous contributions of the people and a loan from HASSS. The construction of the ‘Parish Pilgrim Centre’ was completed at a cost of Rs. 56,00,000/-.

Fr. Y.M. Joseph as Parish Priest built three storied building Pilgrim-Quarters in front of the Khairatabad Shrine and on 24th August, 2001 Archbishop Marampudi Joji blessed and inaugurated it. Later this building was converted into Roch Memorial High School and the old School Building behind the Shrine Church was converted into Pilgrim-Quarters. He also organized Centenary Celebrations for one year starting from 10th January, 2003. Archbishop Marampudi Joji began the inaugural celebrations on 10th January, 2003. The concluding celebrations were held on 10th January, 2004. Fr. Thumma Solomon as Parish Priest built Adoration Chapel in the Shrine Campus. During Fr. N.A. Paul Raj as Parish Priest, he built new Presbytery at Khairatabad Shrine Parish and on 29th August, 2014 Archbishop Thumma Bala blessed and inaugurated the newly constructed Presbytery there. Fr. Gopu Sunder as Parish Priest renovated the Shrine Church that is laid marble flooring inside the Church.

Home for Retired/Elderly/Sick Priests : During the tenure of Fr. Narisetty Anthony Paulraj as Parish Priest, he took initiatives to renovate the existing Building next to the new Presbytery as the Archdiocese of Hyderabad planned to have a Home for Retired/Elderly/Sick Priests. He finished renovation of the Building by 2015 and Archbishop Thumma Bala blessed & inaugurated the renovated Vianney Home for Rtd./Eldrely/Sick Priests at Khairatabad, Hyderabad on 21st February, 2015. Home for Retired/Elderly/Sick Priests was planned there because it is next to Vijay Marie Hospital and the Priests will have medical services always available. Retired/Elderly/Sick Priests who were staying in Vianney Home, Archbishop’s House Campus, Secunderabad were shifted to this home at Khairatabad. In 2018, renovation of the rooms in the ground floor and renovation of Kitchen, Dining Hall and Parlour in the first floor and also Terrace of the Building were undertaken by the Archdiocesan Committe for the Home for Retired/Elderly/Sick Priests and it was supervised by Fr. Viji Joseph, the then Priest In-charge of the Home. In 2019, renovation of 3 rooms in the First Floor and the Stair Case is being done by the then Priest In-charge Fr. Thumma Solomon. The present Priest In-charge is Fr. Bandanadam Showry Prabhakar.

Men & Women Religious Congregations

Sisters Of Charity Of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio And Vincenza Gerosa (SCCG), Vijay Marie Community : Sisters established Vijay Marie Convent in 1948. Mission of the Congregation is education, social, medical and pastoral apostolate. They have Vijay Marie Hospital established in 1948 and they look after the sick, the Priests and Religious, who go to the Hospital for treatment. They have Vijay Marie School of Nursing, Vijay Marie School of Nursing Hostel established in 1973 and they give all round formation to young girls. Ministries in the Parish are teaching catechism, visiting families, helping in the Sacristy, Church and Adoration Chapel, leading Choir in English and Telugu choir and attending Parish Council Meeting.

Second Community Of Sisters Of Charity Of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio And Vincenza Gerosa (SCCG), Holy Mary Community : Sisters established Holy Mary Convent on 1st June, 1948 at Saifabad. Mission of the Congregation is education, social, medical and pastoral apostolate. They have Holy Mary School established in 1948. Ministries in the Parish are teaching catechism, visiting families, participating in all the liturgical celebrations, active in the Parish Council and distributing Holy Communion.