A pirate army of Muscat Arabs invaded Bandra in the 1700s. They were on the lookout for treasures and thought that they could find them in the shrine. They ransacked the shrine and caused much damage but couldn’t find anything. Out of sheer desperation, they chopped off the right forearm of the statue of mother Mary, thinking that it was made of gold. They were again frustrated in their attempt to find anything worthwhile and so they decided to set fire to the church. However, just as they were preparing to do this they were attacked by a huge swarm of bees. They realized that it was a punishment of their evil deeds and intentions. They had to leave the church empty handed.

The damaged statue of the Mother was kept away safely in the lumber room and a statue of Our Lady of Navigators from the side altar of St. Andrew's Church was put in its place. This statue had been discovered in an interesting way. A Koli fisherman had ... More

A pirate army of Muscat Arabs invaded Bandra in the 1700s. They were on the lookout for treasures and thought that they could find them in the shrine. They ransacked the shrine and caused much damage but couldn’t find anything. Out of sheer desperation, they chopped off the right forearm of the statue of mother Mary, thinking that it was made of gold. They were again frustrated in their attempt to find anything worthwhile and so they decided to set fire to the church. However, just as they were preparing to do this they were attacked by a huge swarm of bees. They realized that it was a punishment of their evil deeds and intentions. They had to leave the church empty handed.

The damaged statue of the Mother was kept away safely in the lumber room and a statue of Our Lady of Navigators from the side altar of St. Andrew's Church was put in its place. This statue had been discovered in an interesting way. A Koli fisherman had a dream that he would find a statue of the mother in the sea. Next day he went out fishing and to his surprise, he did find a statue floating in the water. A 1699 Jesuit Annual Letter has recorded the fact that indeed a statue had been floating in the sea between 1700 and 1760. This has led to the Koli fishermen calling the statue as Mot Mauli, which means the ‘Pearl Mother’ as the word ‘Mot’ is a corrupt form of the word ‘mount’ and Mauli, means mother. This community still reveres the Mother and visits the church along with members of other faiths in large numbers.

The church also has a relic containing a drop of blood of St. John which was presented by the Holy See to the Basilica, when the pope St. John Paul II had visited this basilica in 1986.