St. Francis Xavier Church, Kovilur

St. Francis Xavier Church in Kovilur, Dharmapuri, is the diocese's oldest parish church, known as its mother church and first parish. Jesuit priests settled in the village from 1704 and built a chapel in the 1720s; Paris Mission priests took over from the 1830s. Two priests who served here, Melchior de Marion Brésillac and Joseph-Isidore Godelle, became bishops of Pondicherry and Coimbatore.

The present church was begun by Fr. Surrel in 1897 and completed by Fr. Perez, who painted its interior with Bible art; it opened on 11 September 1912. The tower was added in 1962 and the church renovated in 2012. Fr. Thirion, parish priest from 1856 to 1885, did much for hospitality and primary education here, and schools, a convent and the Nirmala Clinical Hospital followed.