WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL COONOOR!
Landed at the airport of Coimbatore and out of the aircraft the walk was not long. Coming out of the airport Mother Jean Marie Antoinette and Sr. Marie Rose Fatima welcomed them with fresh bouquets of ‘Lys’. Just after the Tabor Home, the fences on both sides of the road were decorated with little white curtains and a banana plant on both sides of the wide open gate extending a warm welcome. As soon as Mother General arrived, she embraced the Little Sisters and two Residents welcomed them with bouquets of flowers. All over the place were blue and yellow flags, white and blue balloons, at the entrance of the main door were two flags of Spain and India and “welcome” in Spanish, English and Tamil. All the Residents and Employees dressed beautifully stood on both sides to welcome Mother General.
Then the Toda women, aborigines danced as they sang a song composed by them in their dialect. It said, ‘we people of Nilgiris Welcome you, daughter of Jeanne Jugan, you who do noble work, we welcome you’. Living in Tribes, they looked beautiful with their long hair curled up to the end and wrapped in their traditional shawls with black and red embroidery hand work, depicting a variety of motifs. This is worn by them only for festivities or community events and is much sought after. This was followed by the Badagas, another Tribe. Though this Tribe came to the Nilgiris Hills after the Todas, they are the largest existing tribe. Mostly dressed in white, they escorted Mother General to the catchy tune of the badaga dance till the Official Logo of the Jubilee painted on the floor.
Then, the Parish Priest Fr. Albert Selvaraj welcomed Mother General with a garland made of red roses on a white cloth and presented Mother Assistant Marie Rose with a bouquet of flowers.
Finally, the Official Mascot representing the Catholic pilgrim for the Jubilee Year welcomed Mother General and Mother Assistant with flower petals on a little round tray and a lighted lamp, which they placed in front of St. Jeanne Jugan’s frame in the corridor and greeted the few Residents who were in wheel-chairs.
FEBRURY 13, 2025 - THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION BY MOST REV. ARULAPPAN AMALRAJ, THE BISHOP OF OOTACAMUND, NILGRIS.
After a wonderful long night’s sleep, the sun rays of the early morning greeted Mother General with tenderness. The magnificent view from the window was at its best and did not fail to tempt Mother General to prolong her stay, but ... The morning was very short as the Holy Eucharist was at 10.30 a.m. presided by the Bishop of Ooty Most Rev. Arulappan Amalraj and concelebrated by the Parish Priest, the Confessor for the Community and the Bishop’s Secretary. The Chapel artistically decorated with white and blue flowers and ribbons, as the Home is on the ‘blue mountains.’ The active Associates animated the mass with their harmonious singing and music.
Soon after Mass, Mother General, Mother Assistant and the Bishop were escorted by the students to the Auditorium. After a short welcome speech by the AJJ Co-ordinator of the Province, Mother General and Mother Assistant Marie Rose were honoured with shawls, hand-made simple cloth garlands, then the Montfort Fathers too honoured them with shawls, garlands, and turbans as the auditorium resounded with applause and Mother General laughed heartily. Next they presented a portrait of Mother General carved on a piece of wood and a cloth scroll with the imprint of her photos on it as a souvenir the same was done for Mother Assistant Marie Rose too.
This was followed by a prayer dance by the School Students of St. Anthony and then the Infirm Residents well dressed in wheel-chairs danced with shinning colour paper sticks to the tune of a Spanish song. The Associates made everyone reflect on the benefits of the Nature, which gives itself freely to mankind and doesn’t expect anything in return and the message to live like true children of God. The last item on the list was the fusion of the Tamil traditional folk dances by the Residents and Employees. Everyone’s eyes remained fixed on the stage as one after the other dance continued like a chain. It began with Ecology, then Oyil attam, Kol attam, Karag attam, Kummi yattam, Thappattam, Poikaal Kuthirai attam, Kavadi attam, Mayil attam and Narikkuravattam. The dancers were dressed to perfection and performed their part excellently well. Thereafter, Mother General said a little word of thanks and appreciated the wonderful display of talents. Then the Bishop thanked Mother General for the Charism that is still continued today and invited Mother General to come back again to Coonoor. After that, Mother General was pleased to meet the families of the Little Sisters and few Benefactors and offered a small souvenir. Delighted of having met Mother General they all went for lunch.
Then, Mother General had a short meeting with the Staff members and distributed gifts to them.
Mother General meets the Residents who were dressed like Saint Jeanne Jugan, Saint John de Britto, Saint Devasagayam Pillai and Father Ernest Lelievre in their dining rooms
Thereafter, she came to the dining hall for the Ladies, where she was welcomed by St. Jeanne Jugan with her basket and presented a shawl and flower bouquet. She was not alone, St. John de Britto, a martyr from the district of Madurai honoured Mother Assistant Marie Rose. Then they distributed gifts to the Residents. From there they passed on to the Men’s dining hall, where Father Ernest Lelièvre welcomed Mother General with a shawl and a bouquet of flower, and St. Devasahayam Pillai, a martyr from Tirunelveli district offered a shawl and a bouquet of flowers to Mother General Assistante Marie Rose. Then Mother General greeted everyone and gave them a little gift.
GOOD BYE MOTHER GENERAL AND MOTHER ASSISTANT MARIE ROSE!
Comments