SEPTEMBER 2022

FEATURE
Celebrating
1,950 Years
The year 2022 marked 1,950 years of service,
with a jubilee and various projects
launched, including:
• 1,950 hours of continuous Eucharistic
Adoration performed where people
come in groups and pray in front of the
Blessed Sacrament.
• 1,950 rosaries prayed at the altar of
Our Lady of Little Mount, conducted by
Marian Legionaries.
• 1,950 Bibles given to catechism children
who do not own a Bible.
• Distribution of 1,950 rosaries to children
in rural villages.
• 1,950 poor families selected and distributed
with dry rations.
• Planting of 1,950 saplings throughout
the Diocese starting from rural to city
parishes.
• Distribution of food to 1,950 prisoners.
• Distribution of 1,950 dress materials to
the poor and needy.
St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica in India
BY WEAM NAMOU
Apostle means “one who is sent
off.” It was the name Jesus
gave to the twelve disciples he
chose to go into the world and preach
the kingdom of God and heal the sick.
While eleven of the apostles preached
mostly within the limits of the Roman
Empire, the twelfth, St. Thomas,
was assigned to preach in faraway
lands, including India. It was during
this missionary journey that his caravan
passed through Mesopotamia,
spreading the good news of Jesus to
the people there.
St. Thomas is said to have arrived
in the Malabar coast in 52 A.D. The
primary religions of India at that time
were Brahmanical Hinduism, ancestral
devotion of the common folk,
Buddhism, and Jainism.
“St. Thomas influenced the people
in India spiritually, culturally, and socially,”
said Rev. Fr. H. Joe Bala Ph.D.,
the Rector and parish priest of the
Holy Shrine of Our Lady of Health and
St. Thomas the Apostle in Chennai,
India. “In short, the local culture and
the folk traditions of the people got
soaked in the Apostle. It’s our pride
that we have the tomb here.”
St. Thomas originally built the
church in Chennai which later housed
his tomb.
San Thome Church, officially
known as St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica
and National Shrine of Saint
Thomas, was built in the 16th century
and it was rebuilt in 1893 by the British
in neo-gothic style. The British
version still stands today and attracts
many pilgrims each year. This is one
of only three known churches in the
world built over the tomb of an apostle
of Jesus, the other two being St.
Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (St. Peter)
and Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
in Galicia, Spain (St. James).
The Death of St. Thomas
St. Thomas was seen as a threat because
people started believing him.
More importantly, they started believing
in Jesus and they began to dislike
the Brahmanical cast-oriented religion.
When Thomas converted his wife
and son to Christianity, Raja Mahadevan,
then king of Mylapore, ordered
the disciple killed. Brahmin enemies
pursued him from the cave of Little
28 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022