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| Church Basilica of our lady of Graces, Sardhana, kiwicolors.wordpress.com |
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| Our lady of Gracess, Sardhana. India sardhanachurch.org |
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| Church Basilica of our lady of Graces, Sardhana, Altar en.wikipedia.org |
The historical dusty town of Sardhana, just 22 km away from the city of Meerut, has nothing of special interest to the tourists except one place. It is that of a fine catholic church built by a benevolent Muslim Queen by the name of Zebunnissa. Perhaps. you may be haunted by a couple of questions : What made a Muslim woman build a church here? Did she not face protests from her conservative Muslim community? The historical fact is this young girl's intense romance with a European military man changed her perception in her faith and later she became a Catholic in May 1781; her new Christian name was Joanna. Being a young girl, she impressed on Walter Reinhardt Sombre, a mercenary army owner, later married him despite a big age difference between them, and assumed the name of Begum Samru. Walter Reinhardt worked with various Indian rulers including EIC and the French army; his close association with Nawab Najab Khan of Bengal.was quite beneficial to him and from him he received the jagir of Sardhana. He was almost like a mini ruler of the area with all luxuries associated with it with his own palace, troops, etc.
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| The church at Sardhana, India, Pinrest. |
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| The church at Sardhana,, India Statue of Sampru Begam tribuneindia.com |
After the death of her husband Reinhardt, Queen Sambru assumed the reign of Sardhana and proved her administrative and military skill. She was kind and considerate to her subjects. Being a devotee of Mary, she had been planning to build a church for the divine lady. In 1822, she had a church built designed by an Italian architect Antonio Reghelini. It was dedicated to Virgin Mary and the cost of construction work was roughly rupees four lakh, a small amount for a prosperous woman Now this basilica comes under the parish of the Catholic Diocese of Meerut. It is the only mini basilica in North India and there are more than 20 mini basilicas across India. Including this church many of her buildings are well taken care of by the authorities.
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| Church Basilica of our lady of Graces, Sardhana, India.justdialcom |
Sardhana, I have head people tell me that it is a very small, quiet town and when you are at a distance in the town you will never fail to notice the tall steeples, the graceful statue of Jesus Christ with his
arms stretched out symbolic of welcoming gesture and nice Gothic architecture. The main alter is quite striking made of high quality white marble inlaid with a floral
design. In the altar surrounded by brightly-colored
artificial flowers, you will see the icon of Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, clad in red
and blue clothes. On the other side of the main hall stands a beautiful statue
of Virgin Mary with her cherubic child. On second Sunday of November every year, this place is crowded with roughly 100000 worshipers to offer their prayer to Mary. Tradition has been that wishes made here with trust in Mary's healing power will never go unfulfilled. The church is at the center of a fair during this particular time.
The tomb of Begum Samru with her life-size image on it is in the left wing of the church. The statue of the Begum, that was once kept out side the church, was moved into this place and set on the raised three-tiered pedestal. There are fine carved features in the marble. One shows the Begum on an elephant, with her retinue and in the other, the Begum is offering a chalice to the Pope. On the third side stands the tableau of the Begum receiving petitions from her courtiers. While she is surrounded by Indian soldiers in the first one, the second depiction has her surrounded by Europeans. The statues of her son, her Hindu vizier and pastor are set below her statue. As for her son's tomb and that of her husband, they lie at the foot of the central tableau.
It was on December 13, 1961, Pope John XXIII decided to upgrade the Sardhana Church to the status of a Minor Basilica. This recognition is given only to historically important churches. The Golden Jubilee Commemoration took place in 2007 that was attended by a delegation from the Vatican, including the Ambassador.
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