Basilica of Our Lady of Snows, Pallippuram

The Basilica of Our Lady of Snows stands at Pallippuram in Ernakulam district. When the Portuguese built a watchtower fort here in 1503, described as the oldest European fort still standing in India, they also built a church for local believers and dedicated it to Our Lady. In 1557 it was placed under the Kochi diocese, and in 1577 it was made a parish.

Local tradition tells that during Tipu Sultan's 18th-century invasion, people gathered here to pray, and a mist settled around the church so that his army could not see it; a flood on the Periyar then forced him back. From this the Virgin here became Manjumatha, Our Lady of Snow. Renovated in 1931, the church was rebuilt in 2006, and in 2012 Pope Benedict XVI made it a minor basilica, the eighth in Kerala. Its feast begins on the evening of 30 July, falls on 5 August and closes on 15 August.