A devotee praying at the Mary Matha on the concluding day of the three-day annual Gunadala Lourdes Matha festival in Vijayawada on Wednesday. | Photo credit: GN Rao
Thousands of devotees attended the 102nd annual celebrations of the Gunadala (Lourdes) Math, which concluded on Wednesday (February 11) with a solemn Eucharistic celebration and a message of unity and equality.
Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath (Chinni), MLA Gadde Ramamohan, YSR Congress Party district president NTR Devineni Avinash and Ongole Mayor G. Sujatha attended the closing celebrations and offered prayers at the shrine.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sivanath said that he would strive to develop the Gunadala shrine and its adjoining areas with a view to making it on par with the Velankanni shrine in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.
Addressing the gathering as the chief guest, Bishop Telagathoti Joseph Raja Rao, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Vijayawada, noted that though India has become the fifth largest economy in the world, the country has not achieved the desired progress due to persistent inequalities. He said that real development would be possible only when these differences were removed.
Referring to the history of Lourdes, Bishop Raja Rao recalled that in 1858, Our Lady is believed to have appeared 18 times to a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette, in Lourdes, France. He said the Roman Catholic Church declared Mary the Immaculate Mother and called on the faithful to practice brotherly love.
Devotional hymns marked the end of the three-day festival.
Published – 11 Feb 2026 21:54 IST