Queen of Angels Church, Kadagathur

Queen of Angels Church, also called St. Mary's Church, stands in Kadagathur village, Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu, and is the second oldest church in its diocese. Its story begins with riots against Catholics in Pennagaram, when some of those forced to flee were taken in at Kadagathur by the local leader Chinnappa Nayakar, who sheltered them in his fort and gave up part of it as a prayer hall.

Paris Mission priests later took charge of the village, and by 1873 about 400 Catholics lived around Kadagathur. It became a parish in 1900, and at one time the parish stretched from Rayakottai to Biligundlu, the largest in area. The parish church was known as St. Sebastian Church until Father Chevallier built the present Queen of Angels Church in 1932.