---

Mai De Deus Church, Puttur

---

PHONE No.: 08251 234570,

EMAIL: [email protected]

WEB SITE: www.putturchurch.com

MEDIUM OF EDUCATION: English

TYPE: Co Ed

GENERAL HELPLINE NO.: 9899104337

DESCRIPTION:

Mai De Deus Church is located in the heart of Puttur Town. It is a prominent revenue sub-divisional head-quarters lying 50km. east to Mangalore, the head-quarters of Dakshina Kannada District and a famous coastal city in South India. Puttur is known for its business in forest and other agricultural produces, particularly areca. It being a developing town has a phenomenal background of hilly places and forest areas in the whole of the taluk. "Mai De Deus", as it is said in Portugese language, is a church dedicated to Mary Mother of God. According to the (Mangalore diocesan Directory it is said to have been established in 1830, but there existed a chapel still earlier for the spiritual needs of the Catholic Christian families. Mai De Deus Church is the oldest church in the Deanery.

The parochial records disclose that Catholic Christian families came to be settled in Puttur Taluk in the 18th century and this is evidenced by the existence of a cemetery to the east of the present KSRTC Bus Stand.  It was a small portion of government land reserved for burials and it came to be closed by discontinuing the burials in 1914. In 1982 that cemetery was de-reserved and was handed over to the local municipality. It is said that in 18th century Puttur was a part of Coorg territory and at that time the Rajas of Coorg were well-disposed to Christian families. This was long before the deportation of Catholic Christians from Canara to Srirangapatna in 1784. At that time certain catholic Christian converts migrated to this part of Puttur taluk and settled here and there. Canara and Coorg then were under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Goa. The Puttur Parish Chronicle discloses that in the  writings found in Virajpet Parish, priests from Mercara were ministering to the tempora1 and  spiritual needs of  the Puttur people from 1789 to 1800. Later Christian population in Puttur grew enormously. During the beginning of 20th century it is said that there were many Catholic officers in Puttur and most of such families, having migrated from the eastern part of the District, had settled in Puttur. The conversions that took place between 1923 and 1939 also helped to increase the Christian population to some extent.