“Then he called his twelve disciples and gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all disease… Go and preach: the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Gospel of Matthew, ch. 10
Tradition holds that Saint Thomas came to bring the message of Jesus to India in the year 74 CE.
San Thomé Cathedral
Built in 1504, rebuilt in neo-Gothic style from 1893 to 1896 and renovated in 2006, its stone spire reaches 50 metres. Its crypt keeps relics of Saint Thomas; his tomb lies in the middle of the transept (access via the museum at the back). The cathedral is nothing extraordinary, but floodlit at night it looks like a magnificent white sugar cake.
St Thomas Mount and Little Mount
At the top of St Thomas Mount, a viewpoint offers a wide panorama over Chennai; the little Church of Our Lady of Expectation (16th c.) stands where the apostle is said to have died.
On Little Mount, three kilometres away, a small cave where Saint Thomas meditated shelters, at the back, a spring said to be miraculous.