Kandal Cross Shrine

West of Ooty a Catholic hill shrine, founded in 1933 by the French priest Paul Crayssac, has come to be called the Calvary of Tamil Nadu. Its bronze crucifix holds a splinter of the True Cross, brought from Rome in 1939 and kept in a glass case. It is one of very few such relics in the country. Fridays bring novena prayers and a steady press of people; the annual feast around 3 May draws pilgrims of many faiths and a car procession up the slope. On ordinary days it is quiet, and there is nothing to pay at the gate.

A splinter of the True Cross, brought from Rome in 1939 and kept above the town