St. John the Baptist Church, Permude

St. John the Baptist Church stands in Permude, in Mangalore taluk, on the way from Bajpe to Kateel. The farming locality was once nicknamed Perda Mudde in Tulu for its plentiful milk, and its Catholics used to walk several miles to Bajpe or Kalavaru for worship, with no other transport to hand.

The church came from a vow. When John Baptist Balthazar Nazareth, a coffee planter in Chikmagalur from Permude, fell ill, his wife Seraphine promised to build a church for his recovery. With her daughter Juliana and son-in-law Albert Ambudias Rodrigues she began the work, and the founders met three-quarters of the cost, while parishioners gave materials and labour for the rest. The foundation was laid on 25 November 1959, and consecration followed on 16 May 1963. It carries the name of St John the Baptist in memory of Nazareth, and the parish marked its golden jubilee in 2016.