Our Lady of Angels Church, Puducherry, church in Puducherry, India

Our Lady of Angels Church stands at the corner of Dumas and Surcouf Streets in White Town, Puducherry, facing the Bay of Bengal. Built in 1855 in Greco-Roman style to a design by Louis Guerre, it has a main chapel flanked by two pillars that once housed clocks striking every two hours with the Ave Maria. Its twin tower holds stained glass windows in red, blue and yellow.

A Capuchin church built inside the fortress in 1707 was destroyed when the British took Pondicherry in 1761 during the Third Carnatic War. The present church dates from 1855, built in Neo-Renaissance style to a design by Louis Guerre under Napoleon III, who is said to have visited it first on arriving in Pondicherry. Control passed from the Capuchins to the Holy Spirit Fathers in 1828 and to the Paris Foreign Missions in 1887.

The church brings together people from different backgrounds who pray in French, Tamil, and English each week. This linguistic mix reflects how the community in Puducherry has grown over time, making worship here a gathering point for diverse voices and traditions.

The church stands at the corner of Dumas Street and Surcouf Street in White Town, facing east toward the Bay of Bengal. Mass is held in French, Tamil and English at different times of day, from 6:15 AM on some days to 6:45 PM. The annual feast falls on the second Sunday of August.

The Joan of Arc statue was donated in 1919 by François Gaudart, then Mayor of Puducherry, not in 1923. The twin tower holds stained glass windows in red, blue and yellow. The bells came from France and once rang every two hours with the singing of the Ave Maria; their operation was suspended in 2012 after renovation because vibrations affected neighbouring structures.