Entry barred?

Four times has the tomb of St Thomas been opened, say the records. The fourth time was in 1729, and one of the prominent citizens of Madras, Coja Petrus Uscan, was present at this opening. It was on this occasion that he and other Armenians of Madras donated funds for setting up a chapel in the San Thome area, near the tomb of St Thomas. The original inscription can be seen even today, embedded high up on the building at its southern end. Another inscription, also on the building, shows that the Augustians helped in refurbishing the chapel in 1740.

Today, the chapel is part of the premises of the San Thome Matriculation Higher Secondary School. The Montfort Brothers, who run the school, had taken over the maintenance of the chapel in 1954. Over the years, the chapel's orientation seems to have gone through a 180º turn. The view in the picture is from the southern end, which is where the entrance originally was. With the chapel's eastern wall being right on the road and a building crowding its western flank, one enters this building through the school's grounds - the northern side - these days.

When you look at it as you come up on Santhome High Road, you can't help feeling that it is impossible to enter this chapel. Three centuries ago, it was possibly quite difficult for the Armenian merchants to get a toe-hold into what was predominantly the Portuguese town of San Thome. And that must be why they named their chapel, marking it "In Memory of the Armenian Nation", after St Rita - the patron saint of impossible causes!

Backstage

We had entered through the door behind the statue and we saw this. And then, it was quite unnerving, when the priests turned around and bowed to us. Of course they did not even notice us, they had better things to do. 

Somehow it felt like we were trespassing, so we got out the same way we came in!

Doubting Thomas

He may have doubted the resurrection of Jesus, but there is no refuting the fact that St. Thomas the apostle travelled east, reached the shores of Kerala at Kodungalloor (or, as Ptolemy had it, Cranganore) and after many good works there and elsewhere, arrived at Mylapore around 50 CE. There he lived until the local priests were vexed with his actions, upon which he was hounded out of Mylapore, up the Parangimalai (today called St. Thomas Mount), where he was attacked with a lance and killed.

St. Thomas' life and times are too rich to be detailed here (Wikipedia does have exhaustive information) and there is considerable debate over where he actually spread the gospel. But I haven't heard of any other version of where he spent his last days. In any event, the belief that he was martyred atop St. Thomas Mount has been held over centuries - by the locals first and then by the invading Portugese and the British colonizers.

The Cathedral of St. Thomas was last re-built by the British towards the end of the 19th century. In 1956, Pope Pius XII raised it to the level of a Minor Basilica - it's proper name today is 'Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Thomas'. But I would support any argument that puts this basilica on par with St. Peter's. Come on, it is one of only 3 churches that were built over the tombs of Jesus' apostles (St. Peter's in Rome and St. James' in Galicia being the others). Oh sure, it does not have the grandeur of the other two, but that's no reason to forget what it is there for.

Even the official website of the basilica moans the fact that many are unaware of the importance of the shrine! How about you - are you a doubter, too?