Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, Bandra
Officially, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, colloquially known as Mount Bandra and Mount St Mary Church; is a basilica (shrine) of the Roman Catholic Church, located at the Bandra neighbourhood of Bombay (Mumbai), India.
| Mount St Mary Church | |
|---|---|
| Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount | |
| 19°2′48″N 72°49′21″E | |
| Location | Bandra, Bombay (Mumbai). |
| Country | India |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| History | |
| Status | Minor Basilica |
| Dedication | St Mary |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Completed | Rebuilt 1904 |
| Specifications | |
| Number of spires | 2 |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Archdiocese of Bombay |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Cardinal Oswald Gracias |
| Rector | Bishop John Rodrigues Rev Fr Michael Goveas |
The festival of the nativity of St Mary, also known as Holy Marymas or the Bandra Fest, is celebrated here on the 8th day of September: the auspicious occasion of the birth of the virgin-mother of Jesus Christ. The annual feast is followed by a week-long fair or fête known in the northern Konkan region as the "Bandra fair"; it is thronged by lakhs of tourists, pilgrims and devotees every year. Many visitors come to Mount St Mary Church in order to make their mannat (wish) come true.
Pope Pius XII granted a decree of canonical coronation to the shrine's reverenced Marian icon on 21 October 1954, both signed and notarised by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The statue of the Madonna and the Prince of peace was crowned in a ceremony on 5 December 1954, by the late Cardinal Valerian Gracias.