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Manapad is a coastal village in India, 70 km from Tirunelveli and 18 km south of Tiruchendur, and one of the first places to be visited by St. Francis Xavier in 1542 when he initiated missionary activity on the Fishery coast. Francis Xavier is said to have lived and prayed in a cavern on the seaward face of a cliff. Holy Cross Church close to the sea was built in the year 1581. This church has what is believed to be a fragment of the True Cross of Jerusalem. Thousands congregate during the festival season from 1 to 14 September every year when the cross is publicly displayed.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated annually by the Catholic Church on 14 September, as one of thanksgiving for the recovery of the True Cross from the Persians by the great Emperor Heraclius. Fragments of the True Cross were in due course brought from Jerusalem to many churches dedicated to the Holy Cross in the East and West. These churches sought to imitate the solemn ceremonies in use at Jerusalem in order to do homage to the Holy Cross. Possibly one of the earliest dedications to the Cross in India was the Church of the Holy Cross in Manapad. Throughout the year many pilgrims visit the church and thousands congregate during the festive season from first to fourteenth September.

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St. Francis Xavier

Manapad was mostly inhabited by the Paravars who had embraced Christianity in 1532. The neophytes remained nominal Christians until the arrival and ministration of St.Francis Xavier. The saint who arrived in Manapad in October 1542 found two spots which impelled him to choose Manapad as his favorite haunt during his sojourn on the Pearl Fishery Coast.

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