Manapad is a coastal village in south India, 60 kilometres from Tuticorin and 18 km south of Tiruchendur. St. Francis Xavier came to Manapad in 1542, conducting missionary activity on the Pearl Fishery Coast. He lived in a grotto cavern on the seaward face of a cliff and held mass at a chapel of the Captain's Cross, built close to the sea from a ship's mast after …Manapad is a coastal village in south India, 60 kilometres from Tuticorin and 18 km south of Tiruchendur. St. Francis Xavier came to Manapad in 1542, conducting missionary activity on the Pearl Fishery Coast. He lived in a grotto cavern on the seaward face of a cliff and held mass at a chapel of the Captain's Cross, built close to the sea from a ship's mast after a storm in 1540. In 1581, the grotto was built into a big Church, when Fr John de Salanova was the Parish Priest of Queen of Heaven Church, Manapad. In 1583, The relic of the True Cross, sent by Pope Gregory XIII, arrived at Manapad, after a grand tour along the coastal belt with halts in the places of Catholic predominance. Every year, from 1st to 14th of September, the relic of the True Cross is publicly displayed to thousands who attend the festival season. Pope Leo XIII, in one of his writings mentions Manapad as "Little Jerusalem".
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