Excavations conducted on the spot have led historians
to the belief that the earliest church on the hill
top after the one built by Apostle St. Thomas himself,
was that of the Armenians, erected about A.D 530.
The shrine was under their possession for a long time.
The portugese who are known as the Church builders
felt the urgent need of a decent Church on this sacred
spot and .....
[
MAJOR SPOTS ]
> Little Mount
> Martyrdom
> Shrine on
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> Malayattoor
> 7 Churches
Location
: 8 miles from Fort St. George, Six Miles from South west
of Santhom-de -Meliyapore, 2 miles from Little Mount, 300
Ft. above sea level
Importance : A Church or Chapel
originally built by the Apostle St. Thomas with a stone cross carved
by himself. He was martyred in the surroundings.
......accordingly
an Oratory was raised by Diego Fernandes in 1523, in honour of
Mary the Mother of Jesus. Soon, the Oratory was found too small
for the rising number of pilgrims and settlers.
SHRINE
ON THE HILL, St. Thomas Mount, Madras (Chennai), India
MASS
TIME
SUNDAYS
WEEKDAYS
6.00 A.M English
8.00 A.M Tamil
4.30 P.M Tamil
6.45
A.M(Mon, wed & Fri)
- English
6.30 P.M (Tues, Thu & Sat - Tamil
VISITING
HOURS
Church
is open from 6.45 A.M to 7.30 P.M
What
to see here? Bleeding Cross, Ancient picture of madonna,
Relics of St. Thomas, Stone carved pulpit, Individual picture
of Apostles, and many other paintings. Fastival
day: 3rd July - St. Thomas Day
18th December-Festival of our lady of Expectation
[External
view of theSt. Thomas Mount
Shrine, India]
[Inner view of the Church]
The
story of excavations begins here... The
arch that separates the sanctuary from the body of the Church,
bears the title of the Church in Portuguese : Senhora
da Expectacao which means Our Lady of Expectation. A picture
of St. Thomas was painted on wood, is fixed high up in the wooden
reredos of the Altar. The pulpit is a monument of Armenian art.
Archeological Details: In 1547, March, Gaspher Coelho (Vicar)
and Capt. Gabriel Athaide with 12 respectable persons of the town
took the measurements aand began to dig foundations. On 22nd March,
they came across other foundations of which they were not aware
hitherto. The new foundations were laid from West to East, thus
showing that a more ancient Church had stood in place. As the
digging was progressing, they came upon the holy stone, which
at present forms the reredos of the altar of the Church.This was
later extended and embellished by the Armenians in 1707 A.D
The
arch that separates the sanctuary from the body of the Church,
bears the title of the Church in Portuguese : Senhora
da Expectacao which means Our Lady of Expectation. A picture
of St. Thomas was painted on wood, is fixed high up in the wooden
reredos of the Altar. The pulpit is a monument of Armenian art.
The
bleeding cross carved by St. Thomas on large stone, on which
he fell and died, presently made the altar of the St. Thomas
Mount Church in 1523 AD
At
the foot of the St. Thomas hill, pilgrims enter through an
arch. St. Thomas statue is adorn over it. A cruzerio can be
seen immediately on entering.
Picture
of Mother mary, traditionally attributed to St. Luke and brought
to Inia by St. Thomas. It is not repaied or repainted and the
smudges are the result of calamity. It is placed on the main
altar of the Church.
