While the buildings have been painted white, roof of the church is made by the tiles with striking red in contrast to the colour of the walls. As a token of gratitude to Mother Mary, Portuguese sailors who escaped from a severe cyclone , built the chapel 24 feet to 12 feet with a dome overhead. On their subsequent visits, they brought porcelain plates, which could be seen even now illustrating biblical scenes and other cultural arts of the time, to beautify the Church they had built earlier. The main statue that they had brought to the altar of the Shrine was Our Lady holding the Baby Jesus, standing on the globe. In 1771, Vailankanni acquired the status of a parish, with Fr. Antonio de Rozario as the first parish priest, and was raised to the staus of a Basalica in the year 1962 by Pope John XXIII.