Miracle at Bettada Halasuru St Anthony’s Shrine?

By Verghese V Joseph –

Bengaluru: People from far and wide have begun flocking to St. Anthony’s Shrine — situated at Bettada Halasuru, Harobale of Kanakapura taluk near Bangalore — after visuals of silhouette of a person moving near the foot of cross on the altar went viral on social media. The parish priest, parishners and people who have seen the footage believe that the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible in restricted light is none other than St. Anthony!

St. Anthony’s Shrine Feast was celebrated on April 14, 2020. On request from people, we are running the feast mass again, which was celebrated by Fr Christopher White, Parish Priest, while strictly following national lock-down guidelines May St Anthony intercede for us! Please click link to view mass.

(Also see the video footage of the visuals of silhouette provided by the church at the end of the report)

Narrating the incident, Fr Christopher White, the parish priest of St. Anthony’s Shrine said, “When I was in my office, I saw an image at the altar at 7:30 pm on the CCTV monitor and I called out to my cook Rayappa to check out if it was our sacristan Mariappa at the altar. But on seeing the appearance, my cook grew scared and said outrightly that it is not Mariappa but something else. Also, children who had come for tuitions felt the same. On verifying, we found that there was no one inside the church!”

Reiterating his belief, Bangalore Archbishop Most Rev Dr Peter Machado stated that, “St Anthony of Padua is a popular saint in the Archdiocese of Bangalore and we have many churches and chapels named after him. The poor of the Archdiocese consider him as their own and surprisingly he does not disappoint them! The recent happening at Bettada Halasuru is intriguing.”

The prelate went on to add, “Bettada Halasuru is one of the poorest mission stations of the Archdiocese with little infrastructure. But crowds flock at the annual jathra that is celebrated there once a year, on Tuesday after Easter. I have seen, like all others, the photographic reproduction of the silhouette similar to St Anthony. And I have no explanation except to believe that St Anthony is pleased to make his presence felt among the poor of Bettada Halasuru!”

Relating incidents that seemed more than a coincidence, Archbishop Machado recounted, “The origin of the devotion to St Anthony is itself interesting as the handless old statue of St Anthony came to be placed there not by Christians but by the poor non-Christians, who found the statue in their field!”

“Also incidentally, just a few days ago, we were discussing in our Shrines Committee meeting as to how we could develop the place into a beautiful shrine for St Anthony, who in turn is capable of leading us to a true devotion to God. The little happening at Bettada Halasuru strengths our belief that St Anthony continues to assert his presence close to the poor and the needy,” Archbishop revealed.

“Rev Fr Christopher White, the priest in charge of the shrine, like all others priests before him, is taking a lot of pains to make the pilgrims comfortable, providing them the basic amenities and also creating an atmosphere suited for prayer and devotion. May St Anthony continue to bless our Archdiocese,” the Archbishop concluded.

Fr White also recounted another interesting incident when one of his predecessor with a good intention, decided to fix hands for the statue. While doing, the priest felt a sudden slap on his cheek! He also heard a voice saying,”Retain me as I am!”

“Moreover, there’s a legend of people including the nuns who have witnessed a walking St Anthony in the village and guarding it. Many possessed cases come here and are completely delivered of the evil spirits,” Fr White added.

A lady from Sollepuram had no children for 10 years and she came walking to this place and was blessed with twins the following year. Last week, a family of seven walked from Harobale (22kms) as a prayer offering to this powerful saint. Last Tuesday, on seeing the video of St. Anthony’s unexpected appearance, there were more than 1,000 people for the Eucharistic celebration.

The practice of giving food for all people on every Tuesday started just about five years’ ago wherein one family came forward to do it for 13 weeks continuously. This motivated Fr Nirmal to continue the practice as there are no facilities for hotels here. Though the parish is of a poor background, yet through the providence of St. Anthony, everything is miraculously taken care of!

History of the Miraculous Statue and Church

Legend has it that 150 years ago, a poor farmer at Bettada Halasuru hamlet found the miraculous statue of St Anthony with no hands, in his field. He mistook it for a doll and brought it home and gave to his children to play. After playing, they threw it away along with other dolls. But to their surprise they found it again erected on their house slab. This repeated quite often and they were intrigued at its replacement.

Bewildered, the farmer later took it to their temple priest who upon on seeing it said, “This does not belong to our religion but perhaps Christians might know.” So, they sought the help of a foreign priest who used to come over from Harobale. He verified and confirmed it as St Anthony’s statue. Sensing its importance, a small hut was built and prayers were offered.

Since Bettada Halasuru was under the jurisdiction of Harobale village, the parishners of Harobale decided to take and erect the same in their village. When they took the statue they faced many challenges on their way and with great difficulty they crossed over the obstacles and reached their village and erected the statue. To their dismay, the statue went missing for some time and was later found again in Bettada Halasuru in the same hut!

The farmer then had a dream in which St Anthony appeared and told him, “Retain me where I am and retain me as I am”. So was the statue preserved and venerated. The clergy began offering masses on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Bettada Halasuru was a substation to Harobale, and in 1998 it was made into an independent parish. The first parish priest was Fr William Patrick, after him was Fr Balraj, followed by Fr Sahayaraj and Fr Nirmal.

The church has indeed grown far and wide. Many people from other religions have donated the land to the Church and they all still give their land for use on annual feasts days. Fr I Chinnappa took a lot of interest in buying the land and Fr Jabamalai put up the presbytery. John the Baptist sisters pioneered here for their medical mission and continue to do so even until date

There are only 22 catholic families and 80 Hindu families living under the same shelter and providence of St Antony. For feasts days, more than Catholics it is the people from other religious background who come forward and render help. People from all over flock to our lady of Rosary church, Harobale for the passion play and on their return partake in this grand festival and express their faith.

This place is also quite ideal for priests and religious to make their retreat away from all the hustle and bustle of the city life.

People from nearby villages like Harobale, Therespura, Kanakapura, Kagglali, Mariapura, Sommanahalli, Begur, Doresanipalya, Chikkakamanahalli, Madagondapalli, Sollepuram, Hosur, Salem, flock here on regular basis. Many even come by walk on occasions, offering and on feast days. No wonder they are really grateful for the numerous miracles that happen here continuously!

Mass timings:
Tuesday and Sunday: 7 am and 11 am
Other days: 6:30 am
First Friday: Evening mass and Adoration
First Saturday: Solemn procession and mass at the Grotto
Remaining Saturdays: SCC meetings in the evening

How to reach the Shrine:

From Kanakapura, Bettada Halasuru is about 28 kms towards Sangam route. At Bekuppa circle take left and again another left once you reach Kodihalli. Then at Halimara, another left to reach the circle.