Elakurichi Adaikalamadha

Constantine Joseph Beschi Entering

The Catholics, who suffered percecution under the Tanjore kingdom crossed the borders to Elakurichi seeking shelter as well as to save their Catholic faith.

Elakurichi is the most prominent place among the mission centres where Beschi worked. Beschi spent most of his missionary life here. It was here that he composed many of this master pieces like "Thembavani" (an epic on St. Joseph)"Thirukavalur Kalambaham" (a bouquet of poems on our Lady of Refuge). His prose works like "Vedhiyar Ozhukkam", "Veda Vilakkam" etc. His grammatical works on classical and spoken Tamil and his famous Tamil dictionary "Sadhuragarathi".

It was at Elakurichi that Beschi started as "Senthamil Kalluri" (Tamil College).

About Church

Elakurichi is one of the historical shrine in Tamil Nadu. Its origin goes back to the beginning of the 18th Century. At this juncture Fr. Beschi was working in Varadarajanpet and sent to Elakkurichi during the Lenten season in 1716. Beschi replaced Fr. Emmanuel Machado who had been imprisoned in Vallam fort by Serfoji.