Seriously interesting.... 1.

St Thomas ... travelled to Chennai

Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus (meaning "Twin," as does "Thomas" in Aramaic") was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus. He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. He is also believed to have crossed the largest area, which includes the Parthian Empire and India.

Christians regard Mylapore as the original burial site of St. Thomas the Apostle, before his body was moved to Edessa. The San Thome Basilica stands on this site.Christian tradition holds that St. Thomas arrived in Kerala from Israel in 52 A.D. preached between 52 A.D. and 72 A.D., when he was martyred on St. Thomas Mount.

In all the world, there are only three churches which are built over the tomb of an apostle of Jesus Christ;. St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela built over the tomb of St James in Spain and the Basilica of the National Shrine of St Thomas built over the tomb of St Thomas, Chennai, India.

San Thome Basilica is a Roman Catholic minor basilica, in the city of Chennai (Madras), India. It was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers, and rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today. It was designed in Neo-Gothic style, favoured by British architects in the late 19th century.

      Visiting Hours:7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

A REGISTER OF RELICS,  mentions the wrist bone of St. Thomas at Cranganore (now Koddungalloor) and the head of a lance, a pot with some blood stained earth and some bones in the tomb of the Apostle at Mylapore, Madras:     

      “He is said to have landed near Cranganore (now Kodungalloor), Kerala, in 52. The Marthoma Pontifical Shrine there has one of his wrist bones, from the hand that was poked into the side of Christ, supposedly the only relic of Thomas outside Italy.

Mylapore is located a few kilometres to the south of the British-built area of Chennai city. It extends from Triplicane and Teynampet in the west up to the sea-coast. It is bounded by Royapettah to the north. Its southern frontier corresponds roughly with that of River Adyar. It extends for around 4 kilometres from north to south and 2 kilometres from east to west.

St.Thomas is renowned for working numerous miracles. His tomb was opened four times in the history of the Shrine.

It was opened for the first time to cure an ailment of the son of the Raja Mahadevan. St.Gregory of Tours recorded this in his book 'De Miraculis Sti Thomae'. It was opened for the second time between 1222 and 1235 when most of the Saint's relics were removed to Ortona in 1258 for a troubled journey on the East Coast of India. His relics are present in Ortona even today.

It was opened for the third time in 1523 by the Portuguese who arrived at Mylapore to rebuild the ruined Church over the tomb of the Apostle, St.Thomas. Dom Jose Pinharno, the bishop of Mylapore, opened it for the fourth time in 1729 to give pilgrims the earth from the sepulcher. It was at this time a bright light appeared from the tomb.