Mangaluru: The two-day annual feast of Infant Jesus will be celebrated from January 14 at the Infant Jesus Shrine, Carmel Hill, Bikarnakatte.
Informing about the feast St. Joseph’s Monastery Superior Fr. Wilfred Rodrigues on Thursday, January 3 said, “The festal mass will be presided over by Rev. Dr. Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Bishop Emeritus of Mangaluru Diocese at 6 PM along with Rev. Fr. Charles Serro, Carmelite Provincial Superior and more than 100 priests. Around 500 religious nuns and 15,000 devotees are going to participate in the Holy Eucharist celebrated in open air.
There will be masses all through the day too. The mass in Konkani will be celebrated at 6 AM, 8 AM and 11.45 AM; English at 7 AM; Malayalam at 8 PM and Kannada at 12.45 PM followed by a prayer service. The mass for the sick and the aged will be celebrated at 10.15 AM in Konkani.
The festal mass on the second day will be solemnised by Rev. Dr. Peter Paul Saldanha, Bishop of Mangaluru along with other priests at 10.30 AM. It will be special mass for children. There are other masses on the same day 6.30 AM, 7.30 AM, 9 AM in Konkani. At 12 noon, Kannada mass and in the evening a special prayer service for inner healing at 5 PM will be held followed by Eucharistic celebration and procession of the blessed sacrament.
The floral inauguration of the festivity will be held on January 4 with the votive offering procession beginning at Jayashree Gate. The flag hoisting will be attended by Rev. Fr. Maxim Noronha, Vicar General of Mangaluru Diocese, MLA Vedavyas Kamath, Mayor Bhaskar K, MLC Ivan D’Souza , corporator Sabitha Misquith among others.
In preparation for the annual feast, the nine days Novena prayers will be held from January 5 to January 13 during which there will be nine masses every day. A blood donation camp is being organised at the shrine campus on January 10 from 9 AM to 1 PM. Fr. Muller’s Medical College Director Fr. Richard Couelho will inaugurate the camp. Free meal will be served to the devotees on all the nine days of Novena. A special prayer service in Kannada, Bala Yesu Namana will be held at 8.15 PM every day during the Novena, Rodrigues informed.
Infant Jesus Shrine Director Fr. Prakash D’Cunha, Assistant Director Ligari Crasta and Four Winds Communications Director Elias Fernandes were present.
