7/29/2019 St.Thomas in India Hoax 1

1/1

The Popes original statement given out at St. Peters, before it was amended on theVatican website, was factually correct and reflected the geography of the Actsof Thomas, i.e. Syria, Parthia (Persia/Iran) and Gandhara (North-West Pakistan).There is no historical evidence to support the tradition that St. Thomas came to South India, and on 13 November 1952 Vatican officials sent a message to Kerala Christians stating that the landing of St. Thomas at Muziris (Cranganore now Kodungallur) on 21 November 52 AD was unverified. When this writer sought confirmation of the 1952 Vatican statement in 1996, the Vaticans reply was disingenuous and non-committal. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints said that he needed more information and that the life of St. Thomas was the object ofhistorical research and not within his Congregations competence.[2]

Earlier, in 1729, the Bishop of Madras-Mylapore had doubted whether the tomb inSan Thome Cathedral was that of St. Thomas and wrote to the Sacred Congregationof Rites in Rome for clarification. Romes reply was never published and we may assume it was a negative reply. Again, in 1871 the Roman Catholic authorities at Madras were strong in disparagement of the special sanctity of the localities [viz. San Thome, Little Mount, and Big Mount identified by the Portuguese after 1517] and the whole story connecting St. Thomas with Mailapur. However, in 1886 PopeLeo XIII stated in an apostolic letter that St. Thomas travelled to Ethiopia, Persia, Hyrcania and finally to the Peninsula beyond the Indus, and in 1923 Pope Pius XI quoted Pope Leos letter and identified St. Thomas with India. These papal statements also reflect the geography of the Acts of Thomas, as does Pope Benedicts statement, and make no reference to South India. In fact, the India they refer to

is now Pakistan.

Pope John Paul II visited India twice in 1986 and 1999 and prayed at the allegedtomb of St. Thomas in San Thome Cathedral, but, like St. Francis Xavier beforehim, he had nothing to say about St. Thomass visit to South India or Mylapore inthe first century. This is a curious omission on the Popes part in that he was anardent missionary who openly promoted the evangelising of India and Asia, and astatement from him confirming a visit by St. Thomas to South India would have certainly supported his agenda and that of his Indian bishops.

Notes

As quoted in Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, of 23 November 2006, under the title

Pope angers Christians in Kerala.Our letter to the Prefect, Sacred Congregation of Rites, Vatican City, dated26 August 1996, read: I am doing research on St. Thomas in India and have learned that your office issued a letter on November 13, 1952 which stated that the landing of St. Thomas at Cranganore in 53 AD is unverified. I would like to know if in fact the said letter was issued and, if that is not the case, whether you can confirm that St. Thomas was martyred and buried in Madras. I would be most grateful if you could direct me to any authentic evidence supporting the story ofSt. Thomas in India. The reply from the Prefect, Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Rome, dated 11 September 1996, read: This Congregation for the Causes of Saints has received your letter of 26th August last in which you have asked for information regarding Saint Thomas presence in India. We have not found inour Archives the letter supposedly written by this Congregation on 13th November

1952, of which you speak, because of a lack of more precise data (Diocese, destination, etc.). Nor do we have other data regarding Saint Thomas since this Archive was begun in 1588. His life is the object of the research of historians which is not the particular competence of this Congregation. This reply was a brush off. The Prefect knew what we were asking for and could have located the 1952 Vatican letter in a few minutes if he wished to.