Velankanni is one of the most sacred Christian pilgrimage places in India. Velankanni town is located at the sand shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is just at a distance of 12 KM from the famous coast of Coromandel. The town is famous for the shrine Basilica that is dedicated to 'Lady of Health'. Velankanni has also been declared a holy city by the Pope. This shrine is considered as the divine city and it has been proved for centuries.

Velankanni is fondly known as the 'Lourdes of the East'. The shrine is a great combination of international, multicultural, and religious harmony.There is an interesting practice here that pilgrims offer candles to the mother to cure themselves. Candles are in shape of the respective ailment- a heart in case of cardiac complications and lungs in case of tuberculosis and so on.

Velankanni was a part of the parish of Nagapattinam, but as pilgrims began to pour into Velankanni, it was raised to the status of an independent Parish in 1771, and Fr. Antonio de Rozario the last parish priest of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Nagapattinam, was appointed the first Parish priest of Velankanni. Nagapattinam had always been under the jurisdiction of the great Bishop of the Diocese of Mylapore. During that period the Diocese of Mylapore was administered under the Portuguese 'Padroado' (patronage). Under the Padroado system, the king of Portugal in Europe met all the expenses incurred by the Diocese of Mylapore, which remained under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiffs.

The greatest honour that can be conferred to a Church is to elevate it to the status of a Basilica. The word ‘Basilica’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Basilike’ and it originally signified a Royal Hall. In course of time this word has come to mean a large and beautiful hall. In ancient times kings from all over the world in general, and from Rome in particular, constructed large hall for administrative purposes. The first hall bearing the name of Basilica existed in Athens.