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The National Marian Shrine in Mariamabad, Sheikhupura District, Pakistan is a National Shrine, and since 1949 the site of an annual pilgrimage on September 8 for the Feast of the Nativity of Mary.
Mariamabad means ”City of Mary” in the Urdu language. [1]
One of Pakistan's oldest Catholic settlements, it is about 80 km from the Punjab's capital of Lahore. It covers an area of 835 hectares (2,000 acres) and has become the destination for over one million pilgrims a year. [2]
Mariamabad began in 1892. Observing the misery and oppression of the newly converted Christians in the District of Sialkot, Capuchin Bp Emmanuel Van Den Bosch purchased 150 acres (0.61 km2) of government land for 650,000 rupees (US$29,545) for Christians to live and work on. In January 1893, a 'Long march' of six days (170 km) led by Capuchin fathers Godefroid Pelckmans and another, took three Christian families to the new land, named Maryabad, in Punjab. [3] This event compared to the Biblical Exodus has a particular significance in the history of the local Christian community. The Capuchins built the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Joseph on December 8, 1898. [4]
A prominent feature of the shrine is the Marian grotto on a hill, where a three-and-a-half-meter statue of the Virgin Mary stands.
There are stalls selling religious posters and cards, crosses, rosaries, candles, incense sticks and other religious objects, as well as cold drinks, food, and sweets to cater to the pilgrims that travel from all over Pakistan and even overseas.
On September 10, 2005, armed men waiting near the village stopped buses bringing pilgrims, and robbed the passengers of their valuables. The Catholic National Commission for Justice and Peace also filed a formal complaint with the police against the persons who looted buses, manhandled and searched women, and desecrated a cross. [5]
In September 2005, Catholics from across Pakistan took part in the country's first-ever National Eucharistic Congress. More than 100,000 Catholics came to publicly honour the Eucharist during the three-day event. The event was organised under the guidance of Lawrence Saldanha, the then-Archbishop of Lahore, president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference. [6]
In 2006, the parish priest was Father Emanuel Bernard. [7]
Arif Sadiq carries people from Saint Paul's Parish in Lahore to the Shrine in his pickup truck for free. He has been doing this since 1996. [8]
More than a million people visited the shrine in September 2019 to celebrate its 70th anniversary including Archbishop Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis, Apostolic Nuncio to Pakistan, who blessed a new altar at the shrine, and Sebastian Shaw, Archbishop of Lahore, who unveiled the latest edition of an Urdu-language Catholic Bible. [9]
In January 2021, the Government of Punjab announced the construction of a 4.1-kilometer road from Sheikhupura to Mariamabad to make it easier for pilgrims to travel to the Shrine. [10]
Safdarabad, is a city in Sheikhupura District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city of Safdar Abad is the capital of Safdarabad Tehsil. Its Postal code or ZIP code is 39540. Its urban area is approximately 600 acres. Until 2005 it was a tehsil of Sheikhupura District, but in that year Sheikhpura was bifurcated and the district of Nankana Sahib was created. - with Safdarabad as one of its tehsils. Now at present, once again Safdarabad has been rejoined with Sheikhupura as a Tehsil. The city of Safdarabad lies 95 km from Lahore the provincial capital of Punjab. The area has a population of more than 40,000 the majority of whom are Muslims. There are many engineering and medical students from Safdarabad admitted to different universities across Pakistan, including UET, Lahore.
The Catholic Church in Pakistan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.
The Archdiocese of Karachi is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in India. It was erected on 20 May 1948 under as a then-suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Bombay.
Lawrence John Saldanha is an Indian-born retired Pakistani archbishop. Born in Mangalore, India, he received his religious training at the Christ the King seminary in Karachi and was ordained a priest in Lahore, Pakistan on 16 January 1960.
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lahore is a Latin Metropolitan Archdiocese in Punjab province, Pakistan.
Andrew Francis was the Pakistani Roman Catholic bishop of Diocese of Multan from 2000 to 2014.
The Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Pakistan.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Multan is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Pakistan.
St. Anthony's High School is a Catholic school for boys located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. In spite of its name as a high school, the school delivers a pre-school, primary, high school and college education across three campuses in Lahore. Established in 1892 by the Capuchin Friars from Belgium, the school is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore. The school's main campus is situated at Lahore's historical road, The Mall, adjacent to the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Simeon Anthony Pereira was a former archbishop of Karachi.
Sacred Heart Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore, located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Built at the behest of bishop Godefroid Pelckmans with Belgian aid and materials, the cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Fabian Eestermans, the Bishop of Lahore, on 19 November 1907. Its roots lie in the historical presence of the Belgian Capuchins in Pakistan. The design of this Cathedral was made according to the Roman Byzantine-style by Belgian architect, Edouard Dobbeleers of Antwerp.
Good News Catholic TV was established in 2009 and was the first Catholic television broadcast channel in Pakistan. The cable channel and other Christian broadcasts were banned by the government of Pakistan in 2016. Good News Catholic TV continues on via a website with videos.
The Catholic Naqib is the oldest Urdu-language Catholic magazine, founded in Lahore, Pakistan in 1929 by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore. It was originally published by Lahore Press and, since 1997, by Naqib Printing Press. Naqib (نقیب) is an Arabic name that means "herald" or "Proclaimer". The Naqib is one of the oldest magazines in the history of Pakistani journalism. It was founded by the Bishops of Pakistan in 1929.
St. Mary's Minor Seminary, Lahore, is the preparatory seminary in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore. It is the first minor seminary in the country, started by Belgian Capuchin Bishop Marcel Roger Buyse of Lahore in 1951. St. Mary's is now serving Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi dioceses, as well as the Capuchins and Franciscans.
St. Anthony's Church, Lahore, located 270 kilometers southeast of Islamabad is one of the oldest churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan.
The Catholic Board of Education is the arm of the Roman Catholic Church in Pakistan responsible for education. Each diocese has its own board. Collectively the Catholic Church runs 534 schools, 8 colleges, and 7 technical institutes in its 2 archdioceses, 4 dioceses, and one Apostolic Prefecture.
St. Mary’s Church is a Roman Catholic church in Gulberg, Pakistan. It was founded in 1961 in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore.
The Daughters of Saint Paul is a Roman Catholic religious order for women, and has had a presence in Pakistan since 1966.
Father Francis Nadeem was a Franciscan Capuchin priest working in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan.
Father Khalid Rehmat O.F.M. Cap. in Mianwali in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, is the Apostolic Vicar of the Apostolic Vicariate of Quetta in Pakistan.
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