A Statue of Our Lady of the Rosary

Dominating the entrance room of the museum of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, is a life size wooden statue of Our Lady of the Rosary. Rafael Moreira, a Portuguese scholar, has this to say about it: “It is quite a beautiful image, very detailed, with lovely expressions, and in very good state. Congratulations! I would date it from the late-16th century or 1st half of 17th (it is not yet truly Baroque) and by the parallel folds in the Lady's dress it looks as of Ceylon's origin: or better, a Singhalese sculptor working in Goa.”

Tradition says that the statue was found floating on the sea off Mangalore. A folk song commemorates the event:

From Goa came our Mother   

Our Lady of the Rosary

With flowing tresses, Mother

Came here by sea

Our Mother came by sea

Came here to Mangalore

From Mangalore, our Mother

Went on to Bolar

In Bolar, our Mother

Made her home

Through God’s mercy

She gave us shelter

Our band of ten brothers

Let’s meet together

In our Rosary Mother’s name

And build her a temple

From the completed temple

Emanates festive noise

The sound of bells

Thrills us all

From the completed temple

Emanates light

The light of candles

Fills us with joy

From the completed temple

Emanates the sound

Of the rosary recited

All prostrate

Carrying the cross

The vicar walks ahead

Following him, others

Walk in a procession

Strangely similar statues have been said to have been found floating on the sea in other places along India’s coastline from Goa to Bengal. António Bernardo Colaço, writes that the chapel in his ancestral home, Solar Colaço, in Ribandar, Goa housed a similar statue, probably dated to the end of 18th century. The story goes that an ancestor of his, being shipwrecked, found a log insistently hit his legs. Finding it to be a statue of Our Lady of the Rosary, he vowed that if he reached home safely, he would celebrate her feast annually. He did, and on the 15th August of every year, the family celebrated the Festa de Nossa Senora do Rosário.

If the tradition of the origin of the statue in the museum of St Aloysius College is true, it may have come from one the numerous Portuguese ships that sailed along the coast. It may once have stood on the altar of Rosario Church, built at the site of the present Cathedral, close to the Portuguese factory built circa 1714. The statue was taken into Mangalore fort before Tipu’s army besieged it in May 1783.[1] When the fort finally surrendered in January 1784, the statue was taken to Tellicherry by sea along with the fort’s defenders. From there, it was sent to Goa. It was brought back after Tipu’s death. In 1801, it was kept in a temporary building erected on the site of the demolished Rosario church.

[1] Silva, Severine. Christianity in Canara, Vol I. Extracts from Ravenshaw’s report to the Board, July 19, 1801. Karwar, 1958: 217-228