According to legend, the Apostles drew lots to determine who would travel to which part of the known world. The lot of India and the East fell to Thomas.
Thomas slowly made his way eastward from Jerusalem, preaching, baptizing, and confirming.
Eventually, he reached the area now called Mylapore, India. He remained there for some years. His work among the people grew steadily.
Finally, the ruler of the area had a common reaction to the Apostle’s success: uneasiness, alarm, and finally acute fear. The ruler decided that Thomas must be eliminated and sent men to kill him.
Thomas was martyred on a high hill near Madras (now Chennai). The Catholics of the area secured his body and buried it. Since then, the site of his grave has been preserved in their tradition, memory, and reverence.
The Chennai Catholics built a church over Thomas’s tomb. The church was rebuilt a few times, and the current basilica was built by the British in the 19th century.
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