Located in the Tribal area of Chattisgarh, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary is one of the most beautiful and huge Cathedral in Asia, It is a beautifully architechured structure This old church which has a capacity to accommodate 10,000 worshippers an is popular for its biggestest Christmas gathering, where a large number of people not only from Chhattisgarh but also from across the country.
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary is located in a small town called Kunkuri of Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh state, North India. Kunkuri church is Asia’s second largest Catholic church. Officially it is called the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary. It is believed that it took roughly 15 years to complete the construction work (in 1968). It was founded in 1962 in the period of Late Rev.Bishop Stanislas Tigga and was inaugurated on 27th October 1979. In this region the Jashpur diocese attracts the largest number of Catholics in Chhattisgarh state. Since Kunkuri has a large catholic community, for their convenience in Jashpur, the bishop’s house and the cathedral are located at Kunkuri.
History
Until 1905, no Catholic priest was allowed entry into this region by the feudal rulers. Since 1905, there has been a strong movement toward Christianity among the tribal Oraons of the Jashpur state. The feudal rulers were unable to crush this movement and thousands of the tribals got baptized from the Belgian Jesuit missioners in neighboring Ranchi diocese.
The first priest here was allowed to build a hut for himself in 1912 at Ginabahar. Four missions were later opened with great difficulty. These provided pastoral and educational services to aboriginals.
After the nation’s independence in 1947, the feudal rulers’ states merged into India, and the Indian Constitution provided the tribals with freedom of religion. This helped in the advancement of missionary activities, though with great difficulty. Raigarh diocese was erected on Dec. 13, 1951, by the carving up of neighboring Ranchi and Nagpur dioceses.
The civil Jashpur district was bifurcated from Raigarh diocese to form Jashpur diocese on March 24, 2006. Bishop Victor Kindo of Raigarh was transferred to Jashpur as its first bishop. Jashput diocese has the highest number of Catholics in Chhattisgarh state.
In December 2005, the diocese started celebrating the centenary of the coming of Christianity.
Interesting facts
The interesting fact about this church is its activities are taken care of and maintained by local tribal community. Characteristic of seven arcade in a shape of an arch and seven sacraments symbols made of angle Iron, the church has a beautiful shrine just in front of this cathedral building is also inviting the visitor to pray before the mother marry (Mercy of Mother).
Yet another feature is the local people belonging to other faith visit this church for prayer and blessings in the belief that Christ would help them get through their difficult period and relieve them of various problems they face daily.
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