Adhanur is a remote village about 12 km west of Villupuram. According to the tradition, the Catholics were settled down in this village in 1890s. It had been the mission station of St. Francis Xavier´s church, Villupuram parish for one hundred and eighteen years. Name of the Parish is Holy Trinity as it was the wish of the donor Madame Jannie Herbert from France, who donated generously the entire amount for the building the new church Adhanur. The main Church was built in the year 1996 by Fr. R.C. Raja from Pondicherry – Cuddalor Archdiocese and it was blessed by Most. Rev. Michael Augustine, the Archbishop of Pondicherry – cuddalore Archdiocese.
St. Paul is the patron of the Parish according to the tradition of the people. And the feast is on 25 of January on the feast the conversion of St. Paul. There is another Church in Vinayagapuram which is one of the substations of Adanur named after St. Antony of Padua. As the MSFS missionaries had already started their ministry in the Archdiocese of Pondicherry Cuddalore by taking up Kanankadu parish and they were doing a commendable service to the diocese, the Archbishop Most Rev. Michael Augustine was willing to entrust to the MSFS missionaries another parish in the archdiocese. Therefore, Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS, the provincial superior responded positively to the bishop’s invitation. Consequently, the archbishop bifurcated Adhanur, one of the substations of Vizhupuram parish and erected it as a separate parish along with the following villages as substations: Soorapattu, Venganathur, Vinayagapuram, Thennadevi and Sollainallur. The provincial designated Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS and the bishop appointed him as the first parish priest, and he took charge of the parish on 18 November 1998.This was the second parish that the MSFS missionaries had taken up in the Archdiocese of Pondicherry -Cuddalore Archdiocese. When the new parish was created, there was no presbytery for the priests to stay and therefore Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS was staying initially in the small sacristy of the church. He later mobilized funds with the support of the province, the parishioners and of the diocese and built the present presbytery. The new priest’s house was blessed on 20th December 2000 by Most Rev. Dr. Michael Augustine, the Archbishop of Pondicherry-Cuddalore Archdiocese, and inaugurated by Rev. Fr. Mani Panthalani, our Provincial superior. Adhanur parish has approximately over 300 families including the substations: Adanur: 150; Vinayagapuram 70; Soorapattu 30; Venganthur 45; Thennadevi 5; Solainallur 2.
Developments undertaken by the Parish Priests
Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS as a pioneer in Adhanur mission, worked tirelessly in organizing the parish activities, forming the youth and the children and guiding the people spiritually and helping them economically. He built the presbytery with the support of the province and the diocese, and the new house was inaugurated by Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS the provincial of Vizag province and blessed by Most Dr. A. Michael Augustin, the archbishop of Cuddalore Pondicherry in 2000.
Fr. X. Vincent, MSFS was appointed as the parish priest, succeeding Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS. Though he served the parish for one year, he did his best to animate the people in their faith life and reached out to the people in caring for their needs. He offered masses in all the substations and Novena mass on Tuesdays at Vinayagapuram. He organized tuition for the children in the evening at Adhanur, and he also had dug a borewell with the help of PMSS to get water for use of the presbytery and for the school children. by
Fr. G. Sebastian, MSFS succeeded as the parish priest, and during his time, the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was built, and it was blessed on May 6, 2006, by Most Rev. Dr. Antony Anandarayar, the Archbishop of Pondicherry-Cuddalore Archdiocese.
Fr. F. Emmanuel, MSFS took charge of the parish, succeeding Fr. G. Sebastian, MSFS. Realizing the situation that the parishioners were encroaching on the church land, he made efforts and redeemed the church land from the public encroachment and constructed a compound wall around the parish church. He fixed two gates and locked them and thus prevented the Hindus from taking procession of their deities through the church premises. During his time, the people’s multipurpose development (PMD) society constructed the primary school building in Adhanur parish. There were neem trees in the school premises which the villagers used for their leisure time and to have their group meetings, playing, and sleeping day and night. They also used this place for drinking and smoking, creating a lot of trouble. This was the problem that all the priests faced. Therefore, Fr. Emmanuel, MSFS took a bold step and demolished the old school building and had cut the neem trees in the school premises, removing the stones around the trees despite the resistance by the youth and some elders from the parish.
Fr. D. Johnson, MSFS succeeded and when he was the parish priest, he built the new bell tower with the support of the people, which was blessed Most Rev. Neethinathan, the bishop of Chingleput on 16th April 2009. The province entrusted him with the task of constructing the school building at Perumpakkam and he completed it in 2010.
Fr. A. Christopher, MSFS as the parish priest mobilized the needed funds through people and support from the diocese and the province and built a new church at Vinayagapuram dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. The new church was inaugurated and blessed by Most Rev. Dr. A. Anadrayar, the archbishop of Pondi-Cuddalore on January 2, 2018. He renovated the old church at Adhanur dedicated to St. Paul the Hermit and it was blessed by Msgr. Arulanandam, the VG of Pondi-Cuddalore archdiocese on January 25, 2017. He renovated the church dedicated to Uthariyamatha at Soorappattu with the help of the people and the province and the church was blessed by Fr. A. Dharmaraj, MSFS the provincial of the SE province. He also initiated to renovate the church at Venganthur dedicated St. Therese of Child Jesus, and it was blessed by the parish priest Fr. A. Christopher, MSFS. He also organized the people and renovated the church sanctuary and constructed the open stage in front of the church in Adhanur. As getting good water for the house was an issue, he worked in collaboration with the province and dug a borewell to get better water facility for the house. He served the parish for five years longer than other priests. The people supported his initiatives and loved him very much.
Fr. A. Luckas, MSFS succeeded Fr. A. Christopher, MSFS as the parish priest. He returned from his ministry in the US after fifteen years and he served the parish for two years.
Fr. M. Nicholas, MSFS succeeded Fr. A. Luckas, MSFS as the parish priest. He organized the people and built a room for midday meal in the school.
Fr. Vedaraj, MSFS took charge as the parish priest succeeding Fr. M. Nicholas, MSFS. He served the parish for two years. He took the initiative and renovated the presbytery with tiled floor and painted the house and the province had supported this project. He also supported the efforts of the parish youth in constructing a grotto in the parish dedicated to our Lady of Veilankanni. As the parish church was old and shabby, he made efforts to mobilize the funds needed and painted the church with the help from the province, people and friends. He also took the initiative and organized the people to build a grotto at the main parish with the help from the parishioners – blessed by Fr. A. Patrick Jayaraj, MSFS on Jan 25, 2025. He protected the church land by building a fence with help from the people and his friends, cleared the open well that was there in the church premises and made it usable. He used to provide clothes to poor children sponsored by his friends. The church at Soorampattu substation was in a bad condition, and so he made efforts to raise funds and renovated the church with people’s support. He was transferred after two years of service to Ammapatti as the parish priest. Fr. M. Sagayaraj, MSFS was appointed to succeed him as the parish priest at Adhanur.
Participating structures in the Parish: Pastoral council (parish elders), Anbiyams (BBC)
Associations in the Parish: Youth Group, Altar Servers and Legion of Mary
Institution under the Parish: R. C Primary school in Adhanur under the management of the archdiocese.
Succession of Parish Priests
Fr. S. Alexander MSFS 1998 – 2001
Fr. X. Vincent MSFS 2002 – 2003
Fr. G. Sebastian MSFS 2003 – 2006
Fr. F. Emmanuel MSFS 2006 – 2008
Fr. D. Johnson MSFS 2008 – 2010
Fr. C. Sebastian Raj MSFS 2010 – 2011
Fr. S. John Milton MSFS 2011 – 2013
Fr. A. Christopher MSFS 2013 – 2018
Fr. A. Luckas MSFS 2018 – 2019
Fr. M. Nicholas MSFS 2020 – 2023
Fr. Vedaraj MSFS 2023 – 2025
Fr. M. Sagaya Raj MSFS 2025
Succession of Asst. Parish priests / Deacons
Dn. J. Stephen MSFS 1998 – 1999
Dn. Deivasagayaraj MSFS 1999 – 2000
Dn. M. John de Britto MSFS 2000 – 2001
Dn. K. Rajasekar MSFS 2009 – 2010
Dn. Jeganathan MSFS 2010 – 2011
Fr. V. Yesurajs MSFS 2014 – 2015 – staff at Perumpakkam
Fr. Legion Rex MSFS 2015 – 2016 – staff at Perumpakkam
Fr. I. Jone Gregori MSFS 2016 – staff at Perumpakkam
Dn. M. John Fernandez MSFS 2016 – 2017
Dn. Yesu Prabakaran MSFS 2023 – 2024
Dn. Dony Dimond Raj MSFS 2024 – 2025