CATOLIC CHENNAI

According to the legend Sant Thomas ( the doubting Thomas), came to South India via Cranganore in AD 52 and spent the next 12 years along the Malabar coast converting the local population. He gradually moved eastwards and finaly settled in Mylapore (is nowadays the old city-centre of Chennai. He spent the last years of his live in a cave on a small hill (on top is nowadays a chappel)from which he would walk each day to the beach. It is said that one day preaching on the Mount of Saint Thomas , he was killed by means of a lance. His body was brought to San Thome, where he was burried in nthe small crypt he had build. This is today the Basilica of San Thome (see pictures). The Portuguese colonized Mylapore in the early 16 the century , lured by the 13 the century Venetian traveller Marco Polo who had visited the earlier Nestorian chapel.The saint holds a special place in the hearts of the Indians and was decreed the Apostle of India in 1972