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| Situated near the Airport, the small hillock is believed to be the place where his assassins killed the apostle. The paintings of "The Holy Lady and The Child" in the church and "Our Lady of Expectations" are widely believed to have been painted by St.Thomas himself. Close to the seashore, the impressive Basilica is built over the tomb of St. Thomas containing in it's crypt a small hand bone of the Apostle and the head of a lance which is said to have been used in the attack on him. |
| Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the beach church fell to ruins and in 1522 the Portuguese moved the Apostle's remains to a new tomb and built a new church, which was given the status of a cathedral in 1606. However, in 1893 this church was also demolished and the present Gothic-style cathedral was built and consecrated in 1896. In 1956, this cathedral was elevated to the status of a Basilica as a fitting tribute to the martyred St. Thomas. The legend of St. Thomas has endured to date in India. In the 70s, Doubting Thomas was decreed the Apostle of India. He preached and travelled the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of the country. |
| A number of places in Chennai are linked with St. Thomas, from Luz to Little Mount and St. Thomas Mount. Somewhere between 52 and 72 AD he is believed to have reached Kerala first. The apostle is said to have walked from the beach at Mylapore to a cave on a hill a few miles away and lived there. He spent the last years of his life at a small hill near Saidapet, today’s Little Mount area. Eight years after he first set foot on Mylapore, he is believed to have fallen foul of the authorities. He escaped from his cave to seek refuge in a nearby hill, but here he was shot by an arrow and consequently bled to death. Others claim it was hunting accident that killed St. Thomas. This hill, where it is agreed he died, has since become St. Thomas Mount. A flight of 160 steps leads up to the summit of the Mount. |
| St Thomas, it`s believed, was the first Christian to set foot on Indian shores. One of the Christ`s Apostles [the famous Doubting Thomas], he arrived in India within a couple of decades of the crucifixion. Having landed on the Kerala coast, St. Thomas moved to what is now Chennai and is believed to have lived in a tiny cave atop this hill. Today asimple church built by the Portuguese in the 16th century forms the entranceto the cave which houses a large image of St. Thomas. |
| The other church, atopthe mount, was built much later to commemorate the `martyrdom` of St. Thomas. His remains are preserved in the San Thome Cathedral located near the southern end of the Marina Beach. The Cathedralthough is better known for its representation of Christ rising from a lotus, a fairly unique instance of the co-option of Hindu imagery for a Christian cause. |
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