Gunadala Mother Mary fest concludes

Vijayawada: The three-day festival of Mother Mary concluded on a high note here on Saturday with prayers for the sick and the diseased for their speedy recovery. The concluding day's chief guest was Guntur Catholic Diocese Bishop Bhagyaiah, said Monsignors M Prasad.

The chief guest delivered his message to a huge gathering of devotees seeking blessings. He said that in Lurdh city of France, a 14-year-old girl saw the vision of Mother Mary as Lurdh Mary in 1858.

Since then, every year on February 11 devotees from all over world come to Lurdh city seeking the blessings of Lurdh Mary, he said. In 1924, the then British government had started an orphanage in the present St. Joseph ITI, Gunadala.

The same year on Gunadala Hill the appearance of Mother Mary was enshrined, he said. The Mother is known by the name of Mother Fatima in Portugal and Mother Velankanni at Velankanni in India, he added.

Vijayawada Catholic Bishop Joseph Raja Rao said that kindness, love and protection of Gunadala Mother Mary, the holy hill of Gunadala, is being visited by the devotees round the year and are blessed with abundance, he added.

The book ‘Puneetha’ on Mother Teresa was launched on the concluding day of the festival.