Old Santhome Church 1893

        This is old church of Santhome which was demolished in 1893 and the present Cathedral was built and consecrated on 1st April 1896. An old granite sun dial which was there in the old church is now fixed near the southern compound wall. As per the book " Caste, Catholic Christianity and the Language of Conversion"  by Jeyaseela Stephen the old church was built on the Sepulchre of St. Thomas in the year 1536 by the Portuguese.  By the year 1559 there were around 2000 Native converts  to Christianity in Santhome. In view of the increasing congregation the Diocese of Mylapore  was erected by  Pope Paul V on 9th January 1606 by a Papal Bull. The first Bishop was Augustinian Fria Dom Sebastian Pedro. The Bishops house was next to the church which was raised to the status of Cathedral. The tomb of St. Thomas was opened on 29th April 1729 to distribute earth to the pilgrims during which time  Coja Petrus Uscan the Armenian Merchant was also present.

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