CHAPTER VIII
The Shrine on the Hill
THE heap of ruins on St. Thomas Mount spurred the religious
curiosity of the Portuguese. Excavations conducted on the spot
have led historians to the belief that the earliest church on the hill,
after the one built by the Apostle, was that of the Armenians,
erected about A.D. 530. These Armenians were in very long
possession of the shrine. The Portuguese, who are known more as
church builders than as empire seekers, realised the dire need of a
decent church on this sacred spot. An oratory was, accordingly,
raised by Diego Fernandes in 1523, in honour of the Mother of
God. Before long this oratory was found too small for the rising
number of pilgrims and settlers. A more suitable church was now
decided upon. Some 200 Parduas were duly collected to start the
work. How the work was begun and carried on is best learned from
the statement of Bishop Andre of Cochin, who came on a Pastoral
visit to this place in 1589:
‘When the Portuguese arrived at this place, there existed no
edifice on the Mount; there were, however, some foundation walls
only that were above the level of the ground nearly one cubit, laid
from West to East, which appeared to be those of a very small
oratory; on these foundations, Diego Fernandes erected an oratory,
in 1523. This oratory was vaulted (had a dome) and was dedicated
to the Mother of God; it was so small that it could hardly contain
eight persons. They wished to begin the work of a new church in
the year 1547, in the month of March, Gaspar Coelho being the
Vicar and Gabriel de Athaide, the Captain at the time. For this
purpose they went to the Mount, viz., the Captain and the Vicar
with twelve respectable men of this town; having resolved to build
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the church around the old one, the master-builder applied his strings
and measuring tapes and having thereafter, begun to dig the
foundations on Tuesday, the 22nd of the said month of March, they
came across other foundations, of which they were not aware
hitherto. These foundations were laid from West to East, thus
showing that a more ancient church had stood in the place. As they
went on digging along the same and had dug nearly three cubits,
they came upon the Holy Stone, which at present forms the reredos
of the altar of the Church of Our Lady.’91
The original church which the Portuguese built, under the
direction of Father Caspar Coelho, Vicar of San Thome, was later
extended and embellished by the Armenians. Coja Safar, an
Armenian, was responsible for the extension in 1707, He died in
1725 and was buried in this Church. A tablet on the outer side of
the northern wall of the church bears the following, inscription:
‘Coja Safar Zacharias had this porch at the door of the church made
in the year 1707’. The church, as it stands today, measures. 109 by
87 feet and bears the royal arms of Portugal on the facade of the
porch that faces the West.
Perched on a hill higher than all the others, the church is
visible from miles around. It is on record that whenever the
Portuguese and Armenian vessels spotted it from the sea, they did
not fail to greet it with a salvo of their artillery.92 The ground all
round the church was formerly paved with bricks. Some bricked
patches have survived to this day. All along the border of the hilltop
some sort of seats were constructed, which have since left no
traces. A beacon fire used to be lit up on the hill every night for
mariners to steer their ships by.
The arch that separates the sanctuary from the body of the
church, bears the title of the Church in Portuguese: Senhora da
Expectacao i.e. Our Lady of Expectation. On the main altar the
Augustinian emblem shows the influence of the Augustinian Order,
ever since the Diocese of Mylapore was, erected under an
Augustinian Bishop, Dom Sebastiao de Pedro, in 1606. A picture of
St Thomas painted on wood, is fixed high up in the wooden reredos
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of the altar. Two circles crown this picture and the name of Peter
Uscan is, inscribed as the donor, round the smaller circle. The
picture represents St. Thomas praying before a cross among
boulders. Perhaps the painter followed the belief that the cross
above the altar at St. Thomas’ Mount was carved by St. Thomas or
that, at any rate, he died praying before it. There is a wooden pulpit
in the Armenian style with winged angel-heads, a mermaid with a
cross above the head, equal-armed crosses with trefoil extremities.
The pulpit is a monument of Armenian art and is quite in good
condition in spite of exposure for close upon two centuries. The
name of the donor, who presented it in 1727, is inscribed on its
wooden support.
Visitors enjoy the sight of twelve exquisite and almost lifesize
paintings of the twelve Apostles which adorn the walls of the
church. Their originals were the gift of Peter Uscan. The pictures,
as they now stand, were painted by a Franciscan Missionary of
Mary after the originals, which were fast crumbling to pieces. Some
of the pictures are an improvement on the original. Pictures on the
walls are arranged in the following order. From left to right: St.
Peter; St. James, the Greater; St. Thomas; St. John; St. James the
Less; St. Matthew; St. Thaddeus; St. Matthias; St. Bartholomew; St.
Simon; St. Paul; St. Philip; St. Andrew. In between the tenth and the
eleventh painting hangs an inspiring picture of Our Lord. The
background of the pictures shows the manner of death of the
Apostles. Each Apostle holds an emblem: St. Peter, the keys and a
cross; St. James, the Greater, a pilgrim’s staff, a gourd and a script;
St. Thomas, a book and a lance; St. John, a poisoned chalice; St.
James the Less, a book and a beam; St. Matthew, a book and a
carpenter's rule; St. Thaddeus, a book and a club; St. Matthias, a
book and a hatchet; St. Bartholomew, a book and a sword; St.
Simon, a book and a saw; St. Paul, a book and a dagger; St. Philip,
a book and a cross; St. Andrew, a book and a St. Andrew's cross.
Ten of the thirteen Apostles have a book.
On the eastern side of the church a small vaulted building,
which shows pitiful signs of dilapidation, was once a hermitage. In
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The Church on St. Thomas Mount, which was built by the Portuguese in 1523 and extended in
1547. Coja Safar, an Armenian, extended it further in 1707.
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The main altar in the Church on St. Thomas Mount. The altar is on the spot where St. Thomas is
traditionally known to have been martyred.
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course of time it served as a watch-tower and a powder magazine.
Four huge stones of granite fixed all round it and a big hole on its
terrace show that a flagstaff once stood there. In pre-Portuguese
times, this building also played the part of a light-house. The
graveyard on the south-western slope of the hill is used by the
Franciscan Missionaries of Mary to inter the members of the
congregation who pass away in the city.
Near the south-eastern end of the church there stands a strong
pile of buildings occupied by the nuns of the Institute of the
Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Their residence on the Mount is
known as ‘Holy Apostles’ Convent’. It was founded in 1901. In the
initial stages, a lace-school and a creche were conducted by the
nuns. Later, the convent became a sort of sanatorium for the
members of the Institute coming from all parts of India. In 1931,
the novitiate of the Institute was started in this convent to train the
Oblate Sisters, but was closed down during World War II. At
present, only a few professed nuns with some tertiaries reside here
for the chief purpose of taking care of the church and also of
playing hospitable guides to numerous pilgrims and tourists to the
place. One more activity has been added: the maintenance of a
creche for babies of all castes and creeds without any government
grants.
