Whenever St Thomas’s name is uttered anywhere, the first word which come to ones mind is “Doubt”. This apostle of Jesus was famous for his doubting and this is exactly what I felt when someone told me that St Thomas was killed and his tomb is in here in Chennai. I had serious doubts.” What Nonsense”. As far as I knew, St Francis Xavier was the only saint who came to India and that too Goa.I was seriously wondering why no one had said it to me earlier, in church or catechism. Maybe they did not know themselves.Anyways while I still had my doubts within myself, just like the apostle, I thought now that I am in Chennai I can very well check it out for myself. I have had the privilege of attending mass at the feet of the apostle who in turn had the chance of listening to Jesus himself. So according to a mathematical law of associativity (Hope this is the correct name for the law) it’s like listening to the Lord. I am blessed.
Coming back to St Thomas, though he doubted the resurrection of Christ, he kind of made up for it by traveling and proclaiming Jesus especially in India. He is the only apostle to have traveled outside Europe. Well I am not going to go deep into St Thomas s life and history because we have Google. Isn’t it. Type St Thomas and press on enter you will get 345 sites dedicated to him. Let me tell you about my experiences at Santhome, Chennai. As I said earlier, even when I reached Mylapore, I still was in a confused state, reassuring myself that there might be another Thomas, who was killed here. My earlier show off with my dad about Velankani had awfully gone wrong. I would like to recall an interesting dialogue between me and my dad over the phone. This happened the day I reached Chennai from Kolkata.I checked in a Hotel in Beasent Nagar, where at the entrance there was a statue of Mother Mary of Velankani.So I asked the room boy there
“Boss Is Velankani nearby”. “Yes Sir, just 10 minute walk from here” prompt came the reply.” What. I have been to Velankani before, but never been to Chennai. It cannot be so”. “Sir, Go straight from here and there is Velankani Church” argued the boy. “Ok let’s see”.
Now I get a call from my mom. Moms are capable of calling anyone anytime. It was 6 in the morning,” You reached huh, why you didn’t call as soon as you reached?”
“Mummy it was 3 30 in the morning and I didn’t want to wake you up”
“What I was awake anyways”.
” Ok I just reached now and was about to call, and you called. Is dad there?”
“Daddy, I am going to Velankani today evening”
“What it’s very far from Chennai, Almost 5 to 6 hours”
“No, its only ten minutes from my room, May be you went to some other Velankani.Haha”. I was kind of sarcastic
“Ok, let me know when you reach there, I bet it’s not Velanknai”
“Ok let’s see”
Evening I call up home and tell daddy that this was a church and the patron was Mother Mary of Velankani.Now it was my dads turn to be sarcastic and that too with extra satisfaction and rightfully too. So this time I never told anything about St Thomas. I would find out first for myself.
At the entrance of the church there is a beautiful Grotto and I must say it is one of the best I have ever seen in my short life. The church is absolutely pretty and to my good luck there was an Anglo Indian couple getting married that day. The bride looked stunning and I did not have enough time to even glance at the groom. I did not take any pictures of them, thinking it was not good manners. Moving forward we entered the actual tomb and here I realized “My God, I am standing right next to the tomb of St Thomas.” I pinched myself. Here I was standing next to the tomb of a man who was close to the lord, a man who was lucky enough to touch the wounds of the lord. I was out of my mind.”Shit we have such a huge monument for Christians in India and we have completely neglected it. People don’t even know that one of the 12 lucky men was buried here. What a pity.” What was I to do? I just clicked some pictures and thought if possible let me publicize it and here I am.
There is not much to write about the tomb, since I didn’t talk to any priest there. But from the very self explanatory pictures underneath I came to know that this cathedral is one of the three to have been built over an apostle’s tomb. The other two being St Peters Basilica in the Vatican, built over the tomb of St Peter and .Santiago de Compostella in Spain, built over the tomb of St James. There are statues of the saint being speared, and the saint putting his fingers into the wounds of the lord.
I felt something really wrong .This cathedral should have been flocked with pilgrims, but it was not so. There is no rush here. It’s very peaceful though.Goa was thronged by people, whereas Chennai there are only a handful to visit the tomb. Even though St Thomas is revered by Roman Catholics and Syrians equally, I don’t understand the lack of enthusiasm. I am not even sure whether the lack of knowledge is only on my part or people really don’t know about the Tomb of St Thomas. Hope more and more pilgrims visit this place and be blessed.
Just beside the Santhome Church, there is the world famous MARINABEACH and in close proximity there is Little Mount, where St Thomas was supposedly in hiding. Though Chennai is hot, I guess it’s worth visiting. There are scores of temples, beaches, sarees and THERE IS SANTHOME.
