Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)

Mangaluru, Nov 15: The inauguration and blessing of the renovated Our Lady of Remedies Church, Kirem will be held on Sunday, November 19.

This was announced by Fr Victor D'Mello, parish priest of the church in a press meet held at the Kirem church hall here on Wednesday, November 15.

"Kirem church is one of the ancient churches in this region built by the Portuguese. Next year it will celebrate its platinum jubilee. So before that, we renovated the church and the final works are going on," Fr D'Mello said.

"The programme will be begin at 3:45 pm with welcoming of the Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza, bishop of Mangaluru. At 4 pm he will bless and inaugurate the renovated church, followed by solemn Eucharistic celebration. After the mass there will be Eucharistic procession and benediction.

"A felicitation programme will be held thereafter, presided over by the bishop. Dr Robert Miranda, bishop of Kalaburagi diocese, will be the chief guest," he said.

J R Lobo, MLA, Abhayachandra Jain, MLA, Fr Vincent F Monteiro, vicar forane, Kinnigoli deanery, Diwakar Chowta, president, Aikala gram panchayat will attend the programme.

Burton Sequeira, vice-president, parish pastoral council, and Anita D'Souza, secretary were present.

Brief History of Church

The parish of Our Lady of Remedies, Kirem is situated 30 km to the north-east of Mangaluru, 10 km off the Arabian sea-coast. It is one of the most ancient parishes of Mangaluru diocese. Kirem is originated from the place called Quirem in Goa where a church dedicated to Our Lady of Remedies exists, and a Goan priest from this place came here as a missionary, and he named this place 'Quirem' and he built a church dedicated to Our Lady of Remedies. There are many opinions regarding how the word 'Kirem' originated. Accouding to one opinion, 'Kirem' derived from the word 'Kirant' (a blood sucking insect found in animals); another opinion is that the word 'Quirem' might have come from the word 'kere' (a lake in Tulu).

Till 1780, a Portuguese missionary used to visit this community to take care of the spiritual needs. In 1783, a bigger church was built. In 1784, a Goan priest came here. The newly built church was demolished by Tipu’s soldiers who took Christians as captives. There is a local tradition which says that local Bunts protected this church. Even today the local Bunts are honored by the parish during the parish feast.

There are some historical records pointing out the origin of Kirem. The Christians of this area requested a sale of land at Kadukambla of Aikala village for the construction of a church for Santa Maria. The parish of Kirem came in existence in the mid 18th century. With the dawn of 20th century the history of Kirem parish truly starts.

Kirem parish is the mother parish for many parishes surrounding the area. Many parishes were carved out of this parish, such as Kinnigoli, Kateel, Paladka and others.