Holy Trinity Church Powai

The Jesuits started their evangelization work in Thane in about 1549– 50. Then they moved to the Valley of Vihar, where in 1550 they founded a model Christian agricultural Settlement under the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity. They also erected in the valley, the Church of the Most Holy Trinity. The valley was richly wooded and fertile.

However, it was a malarious that the settlement had to be transferred to a hillock in neighboring Powai. This was done in 1557 and a new Church dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity was built at the same time on the hillock. The Church was severely damaged by the Maratha conquest of 1737. Its ruins can still be seen. In 1846, a Chapel was built close by. It was renovated and extended in 1971.

The Christians began living again in Vihar in the Seventeenth century. The Vihar Church reappears then with the name of Nossa Senhora de Amparo (Our Lady of Help). A map by Rev. Fr. Conti S.J. showing the Churches of Salsette in 1630 includes the church of Nossa Senhora de Amparo. Referring to this map, Fr. Humbert also makes a mention of the existence of the Church in 1638 and in 1714 and of its being in charge of the secular clergy in those years.

The 4-feet Statue of Our Lady of Amparo, which is now on the small altar at the left entrance of the church, belonged to this Vihar Church. The Statue was brought to the Marol Church by the Vihar parishioners when they migrated to Marol before the Vihar lake was built. From 1840 onwards, when the Marol Church was built , The Vicar of Marol also the Vicar of Vihar. In 1857, the Bombay Muncipality acquired the Vihar Church and it's property from the Vicar of Marol for Rs. 1,944 and annas 10 and built the Vihar Lake over it. Some of the Marolites link their ancestry to the parishioners of Vihar. The feast of Our Lady of Amparo is celebrated in Marol by the Confraternity of Nossa Senhora de Amparo on the 26th December every year by a Mass, followed by a get-together.

The Parish of the Most Holy Trinity at Powai has been revived in 1968. Its Catholic population in 1987 was about 12,500. It has a Parish School – the St. Xavier’s High School and a Junior College.