History of the Flag Mast

In 1917 a foreign merchant ship got struck to the sand shore of Leepuram, Kanyakumari. The strenuous efforts of the crew and other experts to restore it did not help them. Hence they decided to abandon the ship and went in for an auction.
One Mr. Kayathan Villavarayan a merchant from Tuticorin paid the highest bid and assumed the ownership of the abandoned ship. He had donated the iron mast to Our Lady of Ransom Church, Kanyakumari.
The kattumarams of Kanyakumari were brought to Leepuram to take the mast to Kanyakumari. It is said that as soon as the mast was loaded on the kattumarams, the mast together with the kattaumarams sunk into the sea water. After a few minutes, the kattumarams and the mast began to float. The bye standers were astonished to see the grace of Our Lady of Ransom. Then they took the mast to Kanyakumari by road.
When the mast was taken to the church yard, another major difficulty was faced regarding the erection of the mast. They consulted the experts and engineers and came to the decision of inserting it into a hole cut out of a large stone. The stone cutters were approached and they searched for such a huge stone that could serve this particular purpose. In spite of rigorous search, they could not find out any suitable stone.
It is believed that Our Lady of Ransom appeared to a stone cutter in dream and indicated the location of a suitable stone. The stone cutter accompanied by the people of Kanyakumari reached the location indicated and they were surprised to see a big stone, befitting the purpose.
They took the stone, made a bore hole and inserted the mast into it. To make the fitting more concrete and long lasting, they poured molted led and erected the mast.