St Anthony Church to hold centenary fete

Visakhapatnam: St Anthony Church is located at Maharanipeta is organising programmes to mark its centenary celebrations. This is one of the oldest churches established in 1907 during the British regime.

Special prayers will be offered on the occasion from June 10 to 12. Fathers and bishops from across the country will be attending the celebrations, said father of the church Ugal.

In fact, the history of Maharanipeta parish was started in 1852 when a small house was bought at Prakasaraopeta where a small chapel was built for the Tamil speaking Catholics by Fr JM Tissot.

Fr JB Gontier, who regularly undertook the job of looking after the faithful from 1904 to 1935. It was he who had built the church and opened St Antony’s School and shifted it to its present location in 1923.

It became a Higher Elementary School in 1925, the boarders who were in the old cathedral were brought to St Anthony’s in 1935 when priests began to stay here. The first part of the present school was built by Fr Andrade who was the head master in 1940.

Subsequently, it became a high school when Fr Gopu Inna Reddy occupied the headmaster’s seat. It was Bishop Rossillon, who built the new Bishop’s house and shifted his residence from the fort to the new house in 1934.