ABSTRACT

Of the numerous Catholic shrines that are focal points of lay devotional activity, those dedicated to St Anthony of Padua – a European saint who is the object of popular devotion and veneration – enjoy special spiritual appeal throughout Tamil Nadu. Most notable among the shrines dedicated to this European saint, the shrine of St Anthony at Puliampatti near Tirunelveli is

unparalleled by virtue of the special powers and miracles attributed to this site and its patron saint, the large number of devotees it attracts throughout the year but especially during its annual festival, and the wide array of rituals executed by its pluralistic, multi-religious clientele. Observed with much fanfare and much anticipated by clergy and laity alike – although for entirely different reasons, as it will become evident shortly, the annual festivals mark an important and auspicious day in the religious calendar. While church authorities value the festival as an occasion for a wide array of institutionally endorsed devotional exercises aimed at deepening and strengthening devotees’ interior, ‘adult’ faith as well as for the sizeable revenue the festival generates for church coffers, the religious masses, especially the marginalized, value it for the opportunity it affords to manifest their deeply felt concerns and mundane needs as well as to display their personal economic wealth, enhance their social status – even if only temporarily – and gain public validation for their religious devotion.