Rs 10.32 Lakh Distributed in Alms at Attur St Lawrence Basilica
Pics By Prasanna Kodavoor Team Mangalorean
Karkala: The annual feast of the St Lawrence Basilica at Attur- Karkala, concluded on Thursday, January 26. It attracted more than 15 lakh devotees, breaking the barriers of faith.
Food packets and alms were distributed to the destitute at the Shrine on January 27, after five days of the annual feast of the ‘Saint of Miracles’. The alms-giving tradition at the shrine has been going on from the last Seventeen years.
Prior to this practice, the destitute and beggars used to have a free run during the annual feast at Attur due to which most of the pilgrims had to face inconvenience and harassment from them for alms. Later, in line with the government policy of discouraging begging in public places and to avoid inconvenience to the pilgrims, the Shrine Committee with the help of the police decided to put an end to begging during the annual feast at Attur.
Instead, the pilgrims were asked to deposit their alms meant for the destitute in separate boxes kept for the purpose. The alms collected in those boxes were distributed to the destitute after the end of the five days of the annual feast along with packets of cooked food. The children were denied alms packets as a matter of policy in order to discourage begging among the young children.
The alms were distributed in the presence of Fr George D’Souza director of the shrine, Fr Vijay D’Souza Assistant parish priest and John D’Silva elected vice-president of the Basilica. The beggars were divided into three categories depending on their problems and state of their physical health. Around 2500 destitute received alms totalling Rs 10.32 lakh.
The distribution of alms and food packets to the destitute could be considered as the final act of the annual feast of St Lawrence at the shrine at Attur-Karkala.
According to the life history of St Lawrence, the emperor of Rome had demanded that St Lawrence turns over the riches of the Church. Saint Ambrose is the earliest source for the tale of St Lawrence which says that he had requested three days time to gather all the wealth. St Lawrence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as possible, so as to prevent it from being seized. On the third day, as the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the emperor and when the king ordered to give the treasure of the Church he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering and said these were the true treasures of the Church. The emperor was so angry that he announced the death sentence to St Lawrence. As a remembrance of this event every year, alms are being distributed to the beggars and the destitute at St Lawrence Shrine Attur.