St. Antony’s Church, Ammapatti consists of Kodai Road, which is the main railway junction connecting to Kodaikannal, Ammayanayakkanur and Sirumalai Thottam. This village was one of the substations of Silukkuvarpatty parish. It was Fr. Cyprian, the parish priest of Silukkuvarpatty parish prepared the ground for the erecting Ammapatti as a separate parish. Most Rev. Dr. Marianus Arockiyasamy, the Archbishop of Madurai Archdiocese bifurcated Amaaptti and entrusted it to the MSFS missionaries. Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS the provincial superior of Visakhapatnam province in consultation with the confreres in Tamilnadu responded to the archbishop’s invitation and designated Fr. Santhiyagu Arockiyasamy, MSFS to the archbishop to be appointed as the parish priest of the new parish. Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS was the Assistant parish priest at Sacred Heart parish, Kadayal in the diocese of Kottar and he was transferred from there to take up the new parish in the Archdiocese of Madurai. He was installed by Msgr. M. Selvaraj, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese at that time as the first parish priest of Ammapatti parish on June 11, 1997. The parish is dedicated to St. Antony the Great, and it has one substation at present, namely. Our Lady of Lourdes Church at Ammayanayakkanur which was newly created by Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS after he took charge of the parish. The parish is surrounded by beautiful hills like Kodiakkanal Hill on the west and Sirumalai Hill on the east. As there was no presbytery in the new parish, the diocese made a temporary arrangement in the sacristy of the parish church for the residence of the parish priest. The church was more than 80 years old at that time. Moreover, the sacristy itself was in very dilapidated condition that its roof used to leak all over whenever it rained and so the priest used to sleep many times in the church. The sacristy, which consisted of just one hall, served as the bedroom, guest room, office, dining hall for the priest. Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS and the deacons along with him stayed in the sacristy of the church for almost two years. The people were very loving and caring to the extent that in the beginning they provided him with all three meals each day until he found a cook. Moreover, the ground water at Ammapatti area was very salty with more calcium, and so it was very difficult to get a pot of good water. Despite the initial challenge, Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS as the first parish priest enjoyed his ministry and worked hard to organize and bring a system in the parish. The parishioners cooperated well with him and supported his initiatives. He used to visit all the houses in the parish twice a year during the Christmas and Easter seasons. He took the initiative to organize a faith sharing group, Legion of Mary, the youth group, and the Little Way Association for the children. The children and the youth were very actively involved in the church activities. He brought order and discipline to the school and worked with the CTC sisters and the teachers to raise the standard of education in the school. He took up the census of the families in the parish and introduced family card system with annual subscription. He introduced devotions like Novena mass in honor of St. Anthony the Great, the patron of the parish on every Tuesdays, Our Lady of Perpetual Help devotion on every Saturdays, Communion to the homebound on every first Fridays of the month and enacting the stations of the Cross on Good Friday which inspired the youth later on to develop the Pascha play during Lent. He also introduced mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help chapel at Ammanagar on every Mondays and novena mass at St. Paul the Hermit in Jeganathapuram hill on every Thursdays. He motivated and supported the children and the youth in their education, guiding them to be well disciplined with the right values in life. Thus, Fr. A. Santhiaygu, MSFS served the new parish till 2001 with dedication and commitment, laying a strong foundation for the spiritual and economic development of the parish.
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Ammayanayakkanur
After Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS took charge of the parish, he made efforts to visit all the Catholic families in the parish, taking census to ascertain the strength of the parish. As part of this process, he visited all the Catholic families settled around Sirumalai Hill. The people were very excited that their parish priest was visiting their families for the first time, and they cooperated very well. At the end of the visitation, they organized the celebration of the Eucharist in the open field under a coconut tree. That was a grace-filled moment when the people thought about building a church for them in this area. In the same year, the village elders identified the available land and with the help of our Vizag province we bought three acres of land and registered it in the name of our Fransalian missionary society. First, we bought one acre of land from Mr. MGR and later another two acres of land from Mr. Perumalsamy. After the land was purchased for our Fransalian Society, Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS with the support of the people, built a thatched shed with coconut leaves and celebrated the first Christmas mass there. This was the humble beginning of establishing Our Lady of Lourdes Church at Ammayanayakkanur as a substation of Ammapatti parish. Now there are over 100 families in this area witnessing as a vibrantly active faith community.
Developments undertaken at various times
The diocese already had some funds received from project donors for the purpose of constructing a priest house in the parish. So, Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS started to construct the presbytery with the help of the diocese and the province. After completing the ground floor, the presbytery was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Marianus Arockiyasamy, the Archbishop of Madurai in 1998 and it was inaugurated by Rev. Fr. Emile Mayoraz, MSFS our Superior General in the presence of Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS our provincial superior. Later in the same year, Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS applied to Propaganda Fide through the support of the archbishop for a project to complete the house and it was sanctioned. So, he was able to complete the first floor of the house with the help of the province and the project money. He took the initiative to buy a piece of land (three acres) at Ammayanayakkanur in 1997, and this was created as a substation of Ammapatti parish. Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS met Mr. Jaisingh from the Jayaraj group of company in Kodai Road whom he requested for help to construct a new block for the schoolchildren as the existing school building was in a very dilapidated condition, unsafe for the children. He visited the school and consented generously to help build a new block. The new wing for the school was completed and it was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Pappusamy, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Madurai and inaugurated by Mr. Jaisingh in the year 2000. Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS also was instrumental in contacting the uncle of Mrs. Angela teacher in Bangalore, who donated two acres of land to the parish and the land is registered in the name of the diocese. Now the land is under the control of the parish priest, and it is given annually for lease and the money is used for the development of the parish. Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS also took efforts to develop the campus of Our Lady of Lourdes Church and so he dug a borewell at church campus with the help of the province and planted twenty-five coconut plants but only two of them survived till today. The borewell was also later abandoned as there was no water source. While Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS was the parish priest, he applied a project to the diocese of Singapore to construct a church at the substation in Ammayanayakkanur and the project was sanctioned with fifteen thousand Singapore dollars. Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS our provincial also supported with a project from Germany. So, Fr. Santhiyagu, MSFS and Dcn. John Peter Arulandam, MSFS laid the foundation stone for constructing the church at Ammayanayakkanur. When Fr. A. Santhiaygu, MSFS was the director of Thedal Institute of Spirituality at Ammayanayakkanur in 2019, he made efforts to get a new amplifier for the church through Fr. John Peter Arul, MSFS and an inverter for the Church through Fr. John Peter Ambrose, MSFS who were working in the US. He also appealed to the parishioners to donate two speakers and three microphones for liturgical use in the church.
Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS became the parish priest, succeeding Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS and he completed the church construction of Our Lady of Lourdes at Ammayanayakkanur. The new church was blessed by Most Rev. Anthony Pappusamy, the Auxiliary bishop of Madurai Archdiocese and opened by Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS, our provincial superior in 2002. After that he was transferred in the same year to take up the Fransalian mission in Kadayal, and he was succeeded in 2002 by Fr. A. Michael, MSFS as the parish priest.
Fr. A. Michael, MSFS, as a parish priest who took the initiative to construct a new parish church in Ammapatti. Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS was sent to the US for pastoral ministry in 2001 and he mobilized some funds to construct the church at Ammapatti parish. Fr. A. Michael, MSFS seriously made various efforts to mobilize the funds needed with the help from the archdiocese, the province and support of the parishioners and started the construction of the new church. He tirelessly worked hard for this project and successfully completed it. The new church was consecrated on 28 December 2004 by Most Rev. Dr. Peter Fernando, the Archbishop of Madurai and opened by Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS the provincial superior of Vizag province. Fr. A. Michael, MSFS also constructed another block of the school with the help from Br. Kimpton belonging to the religious congregation of De La Salle Brothers, who was the director of RTU in Battalagundu.
Fr. R. Mathias, MSFS, succeeded Fr. A. Michael, MSFS as the parish priest and he initiated the construction of a compound wall around the presbytery, and it was completed by Fr. A. Nayaga Jayaseelan, MSFS who succeeded as the parish priest in 2008. He also constructed a belfry in the parish church and painted the Church in 2010. He also mobilized funds with the help of the people and the province and completed a little grotto in the church campus of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Ammayanayakkanur.
Fr. Stephen Xavier, MSFS succeeded Fr. A. Nayaga Jayaseelan, MSFS as the parish priest. He systematically organized the parish administration, the alter server’s association and the youth group. He systematized the parish sacramental records and promoted the devotional practices in the parish and formed the anbiyams to be actively involved in the parish activities.
Fr. Anthony Christopher, MSFS succeeded Fr. Stephen Xavier, MSFS as the parish priest. He took the initiative to acquire the nearby land from the family of Mrs. Angela Tr in Ammapatti parish, and he constructed the compound wall till the church entrance with the help of the parishioners and the province. He also constructed washrooms for the teachers and the school children in the school campus with the help of the teachers and Fr. John Peter Arulandam, MSFS from the US Vice-Province. As the church at St. Paul the Hermit was in a very dilapidated condition, Fr. A. Christopher, MSFS made efforts along with the support of the people and the province to construct a new church. Fr. A. Santhiyagu, MSFS requested Fr. P. Stephen, MSFS who was doing pastoral ministry in the US to support the project. So, he mobilized some funds ($ 5000) and supported the project with the help of his parishioners from St. Rosa of Lima parish, Michigan. It was almost completed by Fr. A. Christopher, MSFS and then he was transferred to SFS seminary.
Fr. M. Fernandez, MSFS who succeeded as the parish priest did the rest of the work at St. Paul the Hermit church, and it was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Pappusamy, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Madurai. It was a grand celebration. Fr. Fernandez, MSFS also worked hard to guide the people and the youth in their spiritual life and organized various programs in the parish. He started computer class in school for parish children. He also mobilized funds to provide clothes for the children during Christmas and supported them in their education. He was very active and involved with commitment in administering the parish and catering to the spiritual needs of the people.
Fr. M. Sagaya Raj, MSFS succeeded Fr. Fernandez, MSFS as the parish priest. He did his best to guide the people grow in their spiritual life. During his time, he did some plaster work in the rectory and painted the house. The church interior renovation was initiated and completed with the help from the people and the province, and the renovated church was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Pappusamy, the Archbishop Emeritus on March 3, 2025. The people mobilized and made the major contribution for renovating the Church. He served the parish for two years and then he was succeeded by Fr. Vedaraj, MSFS who took charge of the parish on May 30, 2025, and renovated and painted the house with the help of the province in the year 2025. He started his ministry with enthusiasm to coordinate the people and collaborate with the Fransalian priests at Thedal community to work together in developing the parish.
Participatory Structures in the parish: Anbiyams, Village Elders.
Associations: Youth Group and Altar Servers.
Religious in the Parish: Oblate Sisters of St. Aloysius
Institutions under the Parish: St. Antony’s R. C. Middle School managed by the Archdiocese, Thedal Institute of Spirituality managed by the MSFS fathers.
Succession of the Parish Priests
Fr. A. Santhiyagu MSFS 1996 – 2001
Fr. S. Alexander MSFS 2001 – 2002
Fr. A. Michael MSFS 2002 – 2005
Fr. G. Visuvasam MSFS 2005
Fr. R. Mathias MSFS 2005 – 2008
Fr. A. Nayaga Jayaseelan MSFS 2008 – 2015
Fr. S. Stephen Xavier MSFS 2015 – 2018
Fr. Antony Christopher MSFS 2018 – 2020
Fr. M. John Fernandez MSFS 2020 – 2023
Fr. M. Sagayaraj MSFS 2023 – 2025
Fr. Vedaraj MSFS 2025 –
Succession of the Assistant Parish Priests
Fr. John Jayapal MSFS 1998 – 1999
Fr. X. Vincent MSFS 2000 – 2002
Fr. S. Selvamani MSFS 2002 – 2003
Fr. A. Christu Raj MSFS 2004 – 2005
Fr. A. Justin Diraviam MSFS
Fr. S. Belavendiran MSFS (youth ministry) 2007 – 2008
Fr. A. Vincent Sahayaraj MSFS 2008 – 2009
Fr. P. Aloysius Maria Bensigar MSFS 2010 – 2011
Fr. I. Jone Gregori MSFS 2014 – 2015
Fr. K. Martin Kumar MSFS 2015
Fr. M. Joseph Anish Kumar MSFS 2016 – 2017
Fr. D. Jayakumar MSFS 2017 – 2018
Fr. Philomine MSFS 2018
Fr. Packiya Sathis Kumar MSFS 2020 – 2022
Fr. A. Arockiyasamy MSFS 2023 – 2024
Deacons serving the Parish
Dn. John Peter Ambrose MSFS 1997 – 1998
Dn. P. Johnson Jayapal MSFS 1998 – 1999
Dn. John Peter Arulandam MSFS 2000 – 2001
Dn. D. Johnson MSFS 2006 – 2007
Dn. Michael Charles MSFS
Dn. K. Martin Kumar MSFS 2015
Dn. M. Joseph Anish Kumar MSFS 2016
Dn. Charles Benny 2024 – 2025