MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Thomas the Apostle

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St. Thomas the Apostle
early 1st century — AD 72, Mylapore
Didymus — Apostle of India
San Thome Basilica, Chennai, India
Feast
July 3
✠ MartyrPierced with a lance while at prayer at Mylapore, India, AD 72 → The Martyrs
Life

Thomas, called Didymus ('the Twin'), is best remembered for the moment of doubt that became one of the great confessions of faith. Not present at Christ's first appearance to the disciples after the Resurrection, he declared: 'Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.'

Eight days later Christ appeared again, told Thomas: 'Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.' Thomas answered: 'My Lord and my God!' — the first and clearest confession of Christ's divinity by an apostle (John 20:24–28).

Eusebius, Origen, and Ephrem the Syrian all attest that Thomas evangelised the East — Persia first, and then India. The ancient Christian community of the Malabar Coast (Kerala), the Saint Thomas Christians, traces its origin to his arrival at Muziris (Cranganore) in AD 52. Tradition, supported by the living memory of that community and by an 8th-century inscription, holds that he was martyred at Mylapore (modern Chennai) in AD 72, pierced with a lance while at prayer.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • 'My Lord and my God!'

    Eight days after Easter, the risen Christ appeared and offered his wounds to Thomas's touch. Thomas's confession — 'My Lord and my God!' — is the climactic Christological declaration of John's Gospel (John 20:24–28).

  • The Founding of the Saint Thomas Christians

    By the living tradition of the community itself, Thomas founded seven churches in Kerala (Cranganore, Palayur, Kottakavu, Kokamangalam, Niranam, Chayal, and Quilon). Their descendants remain — the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches in full communion with Rome.

  • The Builder of the King's Palace

    Apocryphal Acts of Thomas (3rd-century Syriac) recount his commission by King Gondophares of India to build a great palace. Thomas spent the funds on the poor and the sick; when the king demanded his palace, Thomas told him it had been built in heaven. The king, convinced by a vision of his deceased brother, converted. The episode is the origin of his patronage of architects.

Relics
  • Body
    Tomb of St. Thomas
    San Thome Basilica, Chennai (Mylapore), India

    The tomb chapel beneath the basilica preserves a portion of his relics in a small reliquary. The original basilica was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century over the site of his martyrdom; rebuilt in the 19th century.

  • Bodily relic
    Major relics of St. Thomas
    Cathedral of Ortona, Italy

    The majority of the relics were translated from Edessa to Chios in 1258, and from Chios to Ortona in 1258. Venerated in the cathedral.

Iconography
  • The Incredulity of St. Thomas
    Caravaggio (c. 1601–1602); Verrocchio bronze; many others

    Caravaggio's painting in Sanssouci, Potsdam (and many other versions) shows Christ guiding Thomas's finger into the wound in his side — one of the most-painted scenes of the post-Resurrection appearances.

  • St. Thomas with the Spear

    His instrument of martyrdom — often shown with a carpenter's square as well, from the legend of the heavenly palace.

Patronages
India and the Saint Thomas ChristiansArchitects and buildersSurveyorsTheologiansDoubting souls
Sources & Further Reading
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