St. Mary's Forane Church, Athirampuzha

St Mary's Syro-Malabar Forane Church in Athirampuzha, a village near Ettumanoor in Kottayam district, was blessed on 15 August 835 and is one of the oldest churches and Christian pilgrim centres in the district. It began as a chapel of the Kuravilangad church, some 15 km away, for local people who struggled to make the journey. Legend says it was built on land given by the Ettanasseri Namboothiri family after prayers to the Virgin Mary brought the eldest Namboothiri a son.

In 1687 a Portuguese sailor, Leonard D'Cruz, brought a statue of St Sebastian, one of three brought to Kerala and the smallest; unusually, it shows the saint without wounds. The present church, 180 feet long and 55 feet wide, is built in an American style, and its 85-foot bell tower holds three bells brought from Germany in 1905. Its Rosary Garden has sculptures of all the Mysteries of the Rosary and of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, said to be the first such garden in Asia.