The village of Ravusapatty and all its substations are remote villages, and the people are mostly formers. This village comes under the taluk of Gandarvakkottai in Pudukkottai District, and the presence of Catholics in this small village is more than 100 years old. Moreover, the faith story of St. James church at Ravusapatty is very interesting and inspiring. The people still share the tradition how the parish developed the devotion to St. James, the Apostle. It seems that many years ago, few outsiders were passing through this village with the statue of St. James. As they were tired of their journey, they decided to take a rest for a while before continuing their journey. When the villagers noticed them, they had an interest in buying the statue for a small price. But the people who owned the statue refused to sell the state for such a cheap price and the villagers could not succeed haggling, and consequently they dropped the idea of buying it. However, when the travellers started to continue their journey after their rest, they could not move the statue regardless of their effort. Finally, they agreed to sell the statue for any price whatsoever and continue their journey. After that, the people of Ravusappatty built a small church with tiled roof for the Apostle and thus started the devotion to St. James. So, the first Catholic church was built here in the year 1914, and later, they renovated the church with brick walls and the roof with iron sheets in 1919. Ravusapatty along with the surrounding villages were served for a long time by the priests from Killukottai parish as those villages its substations. As the existing church was very small, the people decided to extend the church, adding two wings on both sides to make the church spacious enough to accommodate more people. Now the present church looks in the shape of a Cross. Later, the church was renovated by Fr. Gabriel, who was then the parish priest of Killukottai.
A new concrete roof for the church was made, and a new chariot hall was built with tin sheets. The renovated church was blessed by Most Rev. A. Gabriel, the bishop of Trichy on 15 April 1996, and in the same year the church bell tower was built under the guidance of Fr. Gabriel. The structure of the church had not been changed since then. Due to pastoral reasons, when the bishop Most Rev. A. Gabriel decided to create a new parish under Ravusappatty on the recommendation of the parish priest, he bifurcated Ravusapatty from Killukottai parish and established it as quasi-parish on 14 June 1997 and Fr. Martin, svd was appointed as the administrator of the parish. During this period, Fr. Martin built the presbytery with the support of the parishioners and the diocese, and the new presbytery was blessed and inaugurated in the year 1997 by Most Rev. A. Gabriel, the bishop of Trichy. Then, the bishop erected Ravusapatty as an independent parish with the following villages as its substations: Nallapudaiyanpatty, Pappudaiyanpatty, Alangapatty and Ramudaiyanpatty.
Now the parish has 400 Catholic families including the stations. Fr. Martin, svd was the first parish priest, who served the parish for four years. Later, Most Rev. Antony Devotta, the bishop of Trichy entrusted the parish to the MSFS missionaries and Fr. A. Dharmaraj, MSFS the provincial of South-East province responded to the bishop’s invitation and designated Fr. V. Vedharaj, MSFS to be appointed as the parish priest. He took charge of the parish as the first MSFS parish priest on 10 June 2012.
Developments undertaken at various times
Fr. V. Vedharaj, MSFS succeeded Fr. Thomas, mmi as the parish priest and as the first MSFS priest serving the parish, he took a lot of initiatives to organize and guide the people to grow in their life. He initiated to mobilize the funds needed and renovated St. James Church and Our Lady of Good Health church. He organized a retreat for the people during Advent and Lenten seasons as preparation to celebrate Christmas and Easter in a meaningful way. He also started a special novena and mass at the shrine of St. Anthony of Padua in Nallapudaiyanpatti on the first Tuesday of every month. He also organized the people to celebrate meaningfully the annual feast of the patron saints in each of the substations. These traditions are continued by the successive parish priests. at Ravusapatty. He also took the initiative to organize the people and mobilized the funds to renovate the churches in Ravusapatty and Nallapaudaiyanpatti. As the parish presbytery was small and there was no extra room for guests, he worked with the diocese of Trichy and added an extra room in the presbytery for the use of guests with the help of the diocese.
Fr. A. Innacimuthu, MSFS took charge as the parish priest, succeeding Fr. Edmund, MSFS. He made efforts and regularized the family cards with annual subscription, taking family census in the parish and the substations. He also promoted and popularized the devotion to St. Antony’s shrine in Nallapudaiyanpatti, inviting bishops and encouraging people to be actively involved in the devotion by providing meal for the participants.
Fr. D. Sahaya Anthony Tharcius, MSFS was appointed as the parish priest, succeeding Fr. Ignaci Muthu, MSFS. As he is a lover of nature, he planted trees and grew chickens. He took the initiative to organize the people and built a grotto dedicated to St. Joseph in honor of the Jubilee year of St. Joseph. The grotto was blessed by Msgr. A. Andhuan, the VG of the diocese of Trichy on December 28, 2021. He served the parish for five years and then he was transferred to serve as the correspondent of SFS Marticulation Higher Sec. School in Pudukkottai.
Fr. Anthony Chirstopher, MSFS succeeded Fr. Tharcius, MSFS as the parish priest. He renovated the presbytery with the help of the province in 2024, and it was blessed by Fr. A. Patrick Jayaraj, MSFS the provincial.
Participating structures in the Parish: Village Heads (parish council), Anbiams, Vincent
de Paul society.
Associations in the Parish: Altar Servers (boys and girls), St. James youth
group (Ravusapatty), St. Don Bosco youth group,
Legion of Mary (Alangapatty).
Religious in the Parish: Daughters of Mary Sisters, Marthandam in
Ravusapatty, St. Thomas Franciscan Sisters in Alangapatty
Institutions under the Parish: RC Middle School, Ravusappatty managed by
the diocese of Trichy
Succession of Parish Priests:
Fr. V. Vedharaj, MSFS 2012 – 2016
Fr. Charles Michael, MSFS 2016 – 2017
Fr. A. Edmund, MSFS 2017 – 2018
Fr. A. Innacimuthu, MSFS 2018 – 2019
Fr. D. Sahaya Anthony Tharcius, MSFS 2019 – 2024
Fr. Anthony Christopher, MSFS 2024
Succession of Assistant Parish Priests / Deacons
Dn. Jones Gregori, MSFS 2013 – 2014
Fr. M. John Fernandes, MSFS 2017 – 2018
Dn. Benser, MSFS 2017 – 2018
Dn. J. Jeni Vimal Naveen, MSFS 2019 – 2020
Dn. Eugene, MSFS 2020 – 2021
Fr. D. Arockiaraj, MSFS 2021 – 2022
Dn. Pradeep Jerald, MSFS 2023 – 2024
Dn. Joseph Manicka Raj, MSFS 2024 – 2025