St. Michael's Church

St. Michael's Church is one of the oldest Catholic churches as well as one of oldest existing Portuguese buildings in Mumbai. The church is situated in Mahim, located at the intersection of L.J. Road and Mahim Causeway. Due to its location, it is also informally known as Mahim Church.The church is famous for its Novenas on Wednesdays, which is visited by thousands. The church, originally built in 1534, is rebuilt a number of times, the present structure dating to 1973. The church also served a refuge to popular icon of the Virgin Mary from Our Lady of the Mount chapel, Bandra from 1739 to 1761. In 1853, the Church witnessed a showdown between vicars Apostolic and the Portuguese padroado order for the control of the Church. In recent history, on 27 June, 2008, thousands of devotees visited the Church to see a reported "bleeding" Jesus Christ's portrait, which was termed as a "miracle" by devotees. Though on further investigation, the red spots on the picture showed no traces of blood.