Appendix 8
The Cathedral Museum
Museums are a great means of learning. They help us to enter into
the past and become aware of history and thus widen our
knowledge. The Cathedral museum contains a number of objects
like ancient stone inscriptions, sculptures, coins and paintings related
to the history of the mission of St. Thomas in Mylapore and its
neighbourhood. A careful glance at these ancient objects does
indeed stimulate our curiosity and help our reflection. We give
below a list of objects which are kept for public view in the
Museum of the Cathedral just above the entrance to the crypt
chapel of the tomb of St. Thomas. We are greatly indebted to Fr.
Hosten, S.J., a Belgian Jesuit who gathered most of these exhibits
now in the museum in 192365
1. CARVED STONES
These were gathered by Fr. Hosten, from excavations made mainly
around the Cathedral. Studied in conjunction with the other
artistically carved stones from within the Cathedral, these appear to
be the remnants from the ancient buildings in the campus of
Cathedral.
St. Gregory Bishop of Tours (France) in 590 A.D., records the
following with regard to the tomb of St. Thomas in his book on the
‘Glory of the Martyrs’:
“His holy remains, after a long interval of time, were removed to
the city of Edessa in Syria and interred there. In that part of India
where they rested, stands a monastery and a church of striking
dimensions, elaborately adorned and designed...”
One may perhaps reasonably surmise that some of these huge
stone pillars and other carved stones and lintels may have belonged
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originally to the monastery and the ‘church of striking dimensions’
of which St. Gregory speaks above.
2. THE LARGE STONE BASIN
The large shallow stone basin, with a ‘rope’ border on the rim,
seems to have stood on a masonry platform on the southern side
of the Cathedral in 1921. Earlier it seems to have been in the
grounds of what is now St. Thomas Junior Seminary, just opposite
to the Cathedral..
What was this ‘basin’ used for? It is difficult to say.
When the Portuguese first came to Mylapore there seems to have
stood in front of the still extant older church near St. Thomas’ tomb
two holy water stoups. Is this basin one of them? Was the bottom
knocked out to serve as a holder for growing ornamental plants?
Such seems to have been the use of this stoup since 1921. Or is
it an ancient baptismal font which met with a similar fate i.e. the
bottom knocked away at a later time!
3. A STONE RECEPTACLE
With two small bulging pillars ending in Ionic volutes at the top.
Note the scallop shell at the top, under the curved curling ribbing.
It comes from the Cathedral grounds. It is not clear as to what this
was used for. Does the shell at the top perhaps hint that it was used
to keep articles necessary for baptism? Fr. Hosten says that no one
at the time of his gathering these antiquities remembered this ‘box’
having been used in the old Cathedral.
4. A MONOGRAM CARVED & MOUNTED.
This is the monogram of the Society of Jesus, I H S which means
Jesus. This was found at the entrance of the old parish house in the
premises now called ‘Dhyana Ashram, Mylapore’. It could have
been a Jesuit residence even from the beginning of 16th century,
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with such distinguished persons like St. Francis Xavier and Fr.
Robert de Nobili inhabiting there.
5. TWO MEDALLIONS
One at each extremity of a long stone (probably a door lintel). It
is in two pieces, i.e. broken but fit into each other, thus making it
clear that it was one stone. This stone was formerly in the
Cathedral grounds.
The two medallions face each other. The one at right (as one faces
the stone) has obviously a diadem on the head, which would mean
that the figure represents a king. The diadem does not appear to be
Indian, but Persian. The cut and rope-like treatment of the beard
also gives the king a Persian or Assyrian appearance.
The figure on the left has a fillet ornament round the head which
falls in curls at the back of the head. This fillet was of old and
distinctive mark of kings and princes as seen on Bactrian and Indo-
Parthian coins.
Medallions on stone representing historical persons in kingly or
princely attire seem practically unknown in India. Are we standing
before foreign architectural influences?
Whom do these two figures represent? It is difficult to say for
certain. It would depend on the answer to the question, as to who
made it. By non-Christians or Christians, and when? These
questions cannot be answered with any certainty. If the medallions
were made by non-Christians at Mylapore, they might refer to a bit
of political history of the place in the early centuries and represent
two kings of the Parthian dynasty, since the medallions are of that
style.
If they were made by Christians (of the first or second century)
they may represent king Gondophares and his brother Gad, with
whom the apostolate of St. Thomas is connected.
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Another supposition is that the two figures represent the king of the
place where St. Thomas was killed i.e. of Mylapore itself. The
name of this king is said to have been Mazdai or Misdai,
(Persianized from Vasudev!) which is a Persian or Parthian name.
This King’s son Uzanes (also Persianized from the local Vijayan!))
is said to have been baptized by St. Thomas.
A Jacobite Calendar says: Tesri (Octorber) 6th day: the Crowning
of Thomas the Apostle and of the King of India and Misdeus and
of his son John or Johannes (Uzanes?) and ten others.
This may be confirmed by the Catalogue of Library of Vatican
Codices collected by Assemani, a noted historian. (Bible, Vatic.
Codicum, Mss. Cetal 11-266). In this case, the stone-medallions
seem to be connected with St. Thomas.
6. CROSS BETWEEN TWO PEA****S
At the entrance to what was once the Parish Priest’s private
garden, in the premises of the present Dhyana Ashram there was
a gateway with stone pilasters and a lintel. On the inner surface of
the lintel we see a Cross on a Calvary between two pea****s and
OR either side we see three eight-petaled roses. Although the
pea**** was a common Christian decoration in the West from the
earliest times (cf. painting representing ‘paradise’ at the end of 3rd
century A.D., in the Catacomb of Callixtus, and a fresco in the
Catacomb of St. Priscilla, ‘Clothing a Virgin Dedicated to God’).
But to us it has a special interest as it seems to link Christ and his
Cross in the pea**** town, Mylai (Mylapore).
Note the big stone lying near it is a tombstone, incompletely carved;
another one similar to it near the southern window is also a
tombstone.
THE MAP: Note the map of India is dated 1519, i.e. before the
Portuguese arrived in Mylapore.
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At the end of the arrow note the words in Latin: ‘Hic Sepultus est
Sanctus Thomas’, i.e. Here is St. Thomas buried. This is not a
negligible testimony, regarding the Tomb of St. Thomas in the
present Cathedral.
7. TAMIL INSCRIPTION FROM 12TH CENTURY
This was found in the San Thome Cathedral opposite to the present
north-west verandah. The department of Epigraphy, Madras,
examined it in 1923 and placed it in the 12th century A.D. i.e. Raja
Vikram Chola’s time. It registers a gift of land tax free for the
burning of a lamp, at night, before the idol of Nataraja, Hindu deity.
The stone is only a fragment. Did the rest of the fragment refer to
a similar gift for providing some revenue to the church which may
have been nearby? We know that the ancient kings were not
adverse to granting gifts even to sacred shrines other than Hindu..
8. A SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION (l2th century A.D.)
In Grantha characters.
This stone was found some 100 yards to the west of the Cathedral.
It has not been clearly interpreted.
9. ANCIENT STONE
It has not been identified.
10. A TAMIL INSCRIPTION
Fragment of a Tamil Inscription of the 12th century. It was found
on a block of granite, to the right of the last step leading to the main
door of the old San Thome Seminary, now San Thome Hr. Sec.
School. It seems to refer to a temple in Mylapore, dedicated to a
Jain saint. The writing on the stone has not been identified.
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11. THE STONES WITH CROSSES (figure 9)
Each of these six stones has a cross sculpted over it, equal armed,
containing within it a smaller, equal-armed incised cross. There is
a rope border around the cross.
These stones were also found in the Cathedral grounds. Old
residents of Mylapore seem to have told Fr. Hosten, (who salvaged
these old relics from the excavations he made around the cathedral)
that they stood formerly outside the old Cathedral in what was a
burial ground, to the north of the present Cathedral. It may be
safely supposed that these rosses are a pre-Portuguese work.
An Armenian Priest residing in the present Armenian Church
(Armenian Street, Madras) is understood to have told Fr. Hosten in
1923, that it was an Armenian practice to put crosses of stone in
the walls of houses and churches.
12. INSCRIPTION ABOUT A BENEFACTOR
Rev. Fr. Hosten tells us that on the 1st February 1923, the
Archaeological Department, Southern Circle, found a slab of
granite about 36 inches long and 24 inches wide bearing a
Portuguese inscription, while digging a trench in front of the
Southern Verandah of the San Thome Cathedral, near the Baptistry.
It is a mark of gratitude to someone who had been a benefactor of
the old Cathedral.
The inscription reads:
‘Aqi jaz Va/sco Roiz C/avaleiro da Casa d/el Rei Nos/o Snor,
qu/e fez esta c/apella e to/da esta fr/ontaria (a) o longo da (r) va’.
Line (l) AQUAZVA
Line (2) SCOROIZC
Line (3) AVALEIRO
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Line (4) DACASAD
Line (5) ELREINOS
Line (6) OSNOROV Translation:
Line (7) EFEZESTAC
Line (8) APELLAETO ‘Here lies Vasco Roiz, Knight of the
Line (9) DAESTAFR King, our Lord’s household, who made
Line (10) ONTARIAO this Chapel and the whole of this
Line (11) LONGODA facade along the street’.
Line (12) (R) VA
‘Roiz’ is the short of ‘Rodrigues’. In line 12, only the upper parts
of the last two letters could be distinguished as the stone is chipped
off below. They are in all probability VA. As these are the last
letters of the word, the first is in all likelihood ‘R’ for then it forms
the word ‘RVA’ (street) which seems the only suitable word in the
context.
Which facade did the good Knight build? The tombstone of Cav.
Vasca Roiz was found on the site of the Southern Porch of the Old
Cathedral. This was pulled down in 1982.
The tombstone, unfortunately is undated. Fr. Hosten thought the
stone must be anterior to A.D. 1600. He says, ‘The word referred
to must be the rebuilding of the church for the first time in 1521-
1523 by the Portuguese’. This does not seem likely as there is no
record of Vasco Roiz having come to India before 1558 A.D., and
it could not have been after 1600 A.D., as no improvements or
alterations were made, after that date till the church was finally
pulled down in 1892.
When did Cav. Vasco Roiz come to India? If he were a Knight of
the Royal Household, his name should have been recorded, at least
in the genealogical history of the Royal Household!
13. RECORD ON THE “BLEEDING CROSS” OF ST.
THOMAS MOUNT
CO MO
ES TA
EM MEMORIA DA CRUS Q’ AQUI SE ACHOU
FOR REVEL ACAO CO HU VAZO CHEO DE
TERA. NO ANNO DE 1596
The full inscription for easy reading:
COMO ESTA EM MEMORIA DA CRUS Q’ AQUI SE ACHOU
CO HU VAZO CHEO DE TERA. NO ANO DE 1596.
In current Portuguese:
COMO ESTA E’ EM MEMORIA DA CRUZ QUE AQUI SE
ACHOU FOR REVELACAO COM UM VAZO CHEIO DE
TERRA. NO ANO DE 1596.
English Rendering:
HOW THIS STONE IS IN MEMORY OF THE CROSS WHICH
WAS FOUND HERE BY REVELATION ALONG WITH A
VASE FULL OF EARTH. IN THE YEAR 1596.
This Stone was discovered in 1954 by the late Chancellor Msgr.
Pereira de Andrade, in the compound of the present St. Patrick’s
Church. His comment on this discovery is as follows:
‘The stone must have originally been on the wall of the sanctuary
of the Hill Church, St. Thomas Mount, as it is a record of the
finding of the stone, i.e., the Sweating Cross. How did this stone
find its place in the campus of St. Patrick’s Church? The original
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oratory on the hill was built in 1523; and the church was
constructed in 1547, when the other stone with the cross was
discovered. The Church seems to have suffered much damage and
rebuilt in 1636. In1635 Dr. Constantino Sardinha Rangel,
administrator of the Diocese of Mylapore completely repaired and
renovated the church with contributions from the people. In about
1781 a big battle was fought there during the invasion of Hyder Ali.
Perhaps when the church was destroyed, the stone disappeared
and some good soul must have removed it to the church below.
The date on the stone is 1596. We know that the Bishop of Cochin,
Dom Frey Andrey de Santa Maria has left us a record of the
sweating or bleeding stone. The Bishop had come to San Thome
in 1596 on a Pastoral Visit. On this occasion he must have ordered
the stone with the inscription of 1596 to be placed for a future
memory of the finding of the sweating or bleeding stone.
14. THE GLORY OF MARY MOTHER OF GOD
IN A TRIANGULAR STONE, MARY’S IMMACULATE
CONCEPTION IS ALREADY PRAISED EVEN TWO
CENTURIES BEFORE THIS TRUTH WAS OFFICIALLY
PROCLAIMED.
The base of the stone is 26 inches and the sides measure 27 inches.
The inscription reads, “LOWADA SEIA A PVRISSIMA
CONCEICAO’. (Praised be the most pure conception!). This
expression can refer only to the Virgin Mary whom, we believe,
God made pure (free from original sin), from the moment of her
birth.
SCRIPT: The script is not modern Portuguese. In the first word, the
3rd letter V is used for ‘U’ and joined on to the 4th letter ‘V’; also
in the 4lh word, ‘V’ is used instead of ‘U’. Again ‘I’ is used instead
of ‘J’ in the 2nd word.
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In modern Portuguese, it should be, ‘LOUVADA SEJA A
PURISSIMA CONCEICAO’.
THE DESIGN: The design is neatly carved and seems to be Indian.
In the centre, there is a medallion which bears what appears to be
an image of a bearded man wearing a tunic sitting cross-legged. To
some he looks as if he is standing behind a pulpit. He appears to
wear a cap and a low crown. He seems to have long hair which
can be seen to the right of his head. The left-hand holds a cross
while the right-hand is raised in benediction.
This stone was got in 1935 from one M. Daniels, ‘Blue Wave’,
No.29-Doming Lane, about half a mile to the South East of San
Thome Cathedral. Daniels found it in 1916 while digging the
foundations for his house and as it seemed to have the image of a
saint, he built it into the wall of his parlour which served also as the
family oratory. It is interesting to note that the place of the
discovery is very near to the spot where once stood the South Gate
of the Portuguese Citadel. Ho did it get there?
We read in Portuguese history that the 8th Duke of Braganza
having liberated Portugal from Spanish domination ascended the
throne of Portugal as Dom Joao IV (John IV) in 1646. This
monarch, we presume, had a very great devotion to the Blessed
Virgin, for on the 24th March 1646, he publicly dedicated Portugal
and its conquests to the Blessed Virgin under the glorious mystery
of the Immaculate Conception, declaring her to be the Patroness
and Protectress of his realm. (Cf. Gabtnete Historico, IV, III a,
115).
On the 26th March 1646 he summoned the Courts or Councils of
the ‘Three Estates of the Realm’ (what we would call now-a-days
his Parliament, the Council of the Lords, the Clergy and the
People), and took an oath that he would defend his belief in the
Immaculate Conception even at the risk of his life.
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The same oath was taken by all the members of his Parliament.
Soon the Bishops, Universities, Religious Orders and congregations
in the Kingdom followed suit (‘Mitras Lusitanas, Vol.1., 2nd Ed., P.
148. de Nazare).
In 1647, in Goa, Archbishop Marteres ordered the same oath to be
taken by the Chapter of the Cathedral and all the parishes under his
jurisdiction. There were imposing celebrations all over Goa in
connection with this event which are recorded in a book entitled
‘Relacao das festas quando se Jurou a Conceicao na India, 1647,
4, by Fr. Goncalo de S. Jose.
By a Royal letter of the 30th June 1654 an inscription declaring the
Immaculate Virgin, Patroness, was ordered to be put up at the
entrance of all cities and towns in Portugal and in her dominions
abroad. (Boletim do Governo, 1865, No.75). It was only in 1656
that these inscriptions were put up in Goa, Diu and Chaul. (Oriente
Portugueses, Vol.1, 1904, p. 61S).
Pope Clement X who watched the events in Portugal with tacit
approval, confirmed the action of Dom Joao IV on the 8th May
1671 by the Brief ‘Eximia dilectissimi’.
The election of the Virgin Mary under the title of ‘The Immaculate
Conception’ as Patroness of Portugal, therefore, received the
official approval of the Vatican.
The Triangular Stone seems to be a commemoration stone of the
pious King’s action put into the Southern Gate of the Citadel of San
Thome. It must have been installed in 1656 when, the inscriptions
were put up in Goa, Diu, Chaul or perhaps at the latest, in 1657.
What is of abiding interest for us of San Thome is the inscription.
For it proves that nearly 300 years before the definition of the
dogma of the Immaculate Conception, this belief was cherished and
this devotion nurtured in San Thome, Madras. The dogma was
defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854.
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15. THE CHAIR
The Chair with the Episcopal coat of arms dates from the year
1611 A.D., and was used by the first Bishop of Mylapore, Dom
Frey Sebastiao de S. Pedro, an Augustinian monk, who was
appointed on 9.1.1606. The coat-of arms includes a double-eagled
image, with wings on spread, which has been held as the symbol
of the Augustinians i.e. the order founded by the great St.
Augustine Bishop of Hippo, in the 6th Century AD.
Why this double-eagled image was adopted as symbol of
Augustinians, is not clear. The eagle is said to be a bird which flies
very high in the sky. This ‘very high’ has been figuratively applied
to a person who in his mind and thinking ‘flies’ as it were very high,
that is, capable of expressing lofty thoughts especially about God
and divine realities. St. John the Apostle is thus represented as an
‘Eagle’ because in his prologue of the Gospel, unlike other
evangelists, he went up straight to God Himself to express the
existence of the Word (Christ) as being one with God.
St. Augustine is considered as one of the greatest doctors of the
Church. May be the Order which he founded wanted to glorify him
and his great writings and symbolized him as a double eagle! But
this is a mere guess!
16. A DOUBLE FIGURE SCULPTURE
i. St. Thomas on one side.
This ‘double figured’ Massive pedestal, seems to have been, at one
time, (it is difficult to fix the period) in the open air somewhere, and
the local Christians seem to have been in the habit of pouring oil on
the head of the two figures as a mark of their reverence.
Whom do these figures represent? Friar Paulinus, in his book
‘Christian Oriental India’, printed in Rome in 1794, says that this
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stone was found near the tomb of St. Thomas and describes one
of the figures as St. Thomas, ‘dressed in a garment falling down to
the heels, holding in his left hand on his breast a book, and with the
right hand in the pose of blessing or teaching’.
In 1729, the then Bishop of Mylapore Dom Joseph Pinheiro writes,
in exactly the same strain, to the Bishop of Verapoly.
The figure seems to wear a girdle, part of which falls in front,
below the knee, and a stole-like vesture winding round the left
hand. The book held in the hand may be taken as an indication that
the figure represents an Apostle; for the apostles in olden times,
both in the Greek and Latin Church were usually represented with
a book. The ‘girdle’ worn seems to identify him as St. Thomas.
Both Syrian and local traditions have it that St. Thomas received
our Lady’s girdle after her Assumption.
This connection of the girdle with our Lady seems to have been
taken for granted by Christians of Mylapore, all along the centuries.
Thus we find Bishop John de Marignolli (about 1349 A.D)
recording it. It is also connected with the legend of the dragging of
a huge log from the sea to the shore, which could not be moved
even by elephants: St. Thomas is said to have used this girdle in
order to pull it ashore.
ii. A King or another Apostle on the other side.
The Christians seem to identify it with Kandappa Raja
(Gondophares?) the supposed King of Mylapore whom St. Thomas
may have converted. The figure is obviously bearded: it seems to
have also a girdle around the waist; a loose garment (shown by the
triple wavy line in the background) which reappears around the left
arm, down the left hip and up the right hip; it hangs loose in front
above the knees.
What appears to be like a top-knot may perhaps be an aureole (thus
placed for the sake of perspective) because there is a grove all
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round the outer border. The left heel is raised as in an act of
walking, while the right foot rests on the ground.
The left hand seems to hold a book or some instrument. If it is a
book, the figure may represent an Apostle too! Perhaps St.
Bartholomew who is said to have brought to India St. Mathew’s
Gospel, written in Hebrew!
Two Apostles of India, though the apostolate of St. Bartholomew in
India is not yet proved as much as that of St. Thomas. It is rather
significant that the new ‘divine office’ (after Vatican II) has this
note on 24th August, the feast ;of St. Bartholomew: ‘after the
Lord’s ascension tradition has it that he preached the Gospel in
India and there suffered martyrdom’. In fact Kalyan a place near
Bombay is often said to be the place of his martyrdom. This doublefigure
in stone is said to have been discovered somewhere near the
tomb of St. Thomas when it was dug up in 1729. This is what
Bishop Pinheiro (above mentioned) writes in his letter to the Bishop
of Verepoly. It is said that originally this stone was kept in the open.
It is also known that when the Portuguese opened it in 1521-1523
it was not found there. How or when did it get there? A most
probable explanation is that when the Christians were driven from
Mylapore (by Muslims?) some time between 1430 and 1500 or at
an earlier date it was buried not exactly in the tomb, but rather
somewhere near it!
This figure of St. Thomas (& St. Bartholomew) seems to testify to
the cult of the Apostle even before the Portuguese came to India.
The date of the stone image, perhaps middle of the 7th Century
A.D.
17. ST. THOMAS’ COINS
Gratia de Sa, Governor of the State of Goa, ordered that in memory
of St. Thomas special coins be minted in Goa in 1548. They were
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known as ‘Santhomes’. On one side there was the effigy of St.
Thomas with a carpenter’s rule on his shoulder and on the reverse
the Royal Portuguese Arms. In the beginning they were of gold.
Similar silver coins were minted between 1551 and 1554- A
collection of coins was seen in the Exhibition of National Industry
held in 1861. In this collection one gold ‘Santhome’ was exhibited,
(cf. Resumo Historico da Vida de S. Francisco Xavier, by Filipe
Nery Xavier, 1861).
Travernier, who was in Goa and Mylapore, gives us the picture of
one of these ‘Santhomes’ minted in 1660.
The Two Large Pictures on Wall
i. St. Francis Xavier driving away his enemies.
St. Francis Xavier often visited Mylapore and prayed at the Tomb
of St. Thomas, as well as near the image of Our Lady (later known
as Our Lady of Mylapore). Once he stayed about 4 months with
the Parish Priest, in his house (which today corresponds to the
Sacristy of the Cathedral) and used to go to the Tomb and pray
there daily, even at night. These two Apostles linked in this way are
called the Apostles of India.
The picture above depicts the driving away of enemies who had
decided to kill him. Here is a brief account which is said to have
happened in a town near Kottar:
When a tribe of savages and public robbers, having plundered many
other places, made inroads into Travancore (Kottar was a part of
Travancore!), St. Francis Xavier marched up to the enemy, with a
crucifix in his hand, at the head pf a small group of fervent
Christians, and with a commanding air, bade them, in the name of
living God, not to pass further, but to return the way they came. His
words cast such a terror into the minds of the leaders who were
at the head of the barbarians, that they stood some time
dumbfounded and motionless; and then they panicked, and quit the
country.
ii. The Log of Wood
Now the ‘forest tree of an unmeasured size’ or the great ‘log’ plays
an important part in the local legends of Mylapore and helps to
identify the place; for it is said, that it blocked up the river and no
human force could move it, until the Apostle drew it after him by
means of his girdle. The king thereupon gave him leave to make his
chapel of the same piece of wood.
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This legend of the log is related by Bishop John de Marignolli (about
1349). In course of time a monastery was added to the Church,
built with the same wood and the spot came to be known among
the Persian and Arab traders as Bethumah, the House of Thomas.
(Beth in Hebrew being house)
