PROF. JOHN KURAKAR AND FAMILY
VISITED CHENNAI MYLAPORE SANTHOM CHURCH- INTERNATIONAL SHRINE OF ST. THOMAS
Prof. John Kurakar and Family visited Chennai
San Thom Church- International Shrine of St. Thomas, the one of twelveApostle
of Jesus Christ on 20th May,2014.The word Santhome or San Thome is
derived from Saint Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. The
local Christian belief is that the apostle came to India in A.D.52, was
martyred in A.D.72 at St.Thomas Mount in the city, and was interred in Mylapore.
A church was built over his tomb and today is known as the San Thome Basilica.
The Basilica is one of four churches that claim to have been built over the
tomb of an apostle. (The other three are St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy;
the Church of Saint James the Great in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and the
Ghareh Keliseh Monastery of St. Thaddeus in Ghara-Kilise, Iran.)
Commonly known as Santhome Church, the
International Shrine of St. Thomas Basilica has an underground tomb chapel
where pilgrims can pray in front of the sepulchre of St. Thomas. Superstitious
people believe that sand taken from the tomb has miraculous healing powers.
Marco Polo the great Venetian traveller visited the tomb in 1292 and made a
record of his visit in his travel diaries:"The Christians who go thither
in pilgrimage take of the earth from the place where the saint was killed (or
buried), and give a portion thereof to anyone who is sick of a quartan or a
tertian fever; and by the power of God and of St. Thomas the sick man is
incontinently cured."--Travels of Marco Polo Vol.II by Yule Edited by
Cordier.Faithful people have had to wait many years to get a little sand from
the tomb, as it is only opened infrequently, at intervals of a few hundred
years.The church has made a beautiful credit card for pilgrims, the St. Thomas
Card,[1] with a little of the St. Thomas sand embedded in it. This can be
carried around like a normal credit card in a wallet or purse.
Prof. John Kurakar
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