History
Santhome Cathedral Basilica is an important monument located towards the south of the Marina Drive. The place, where Santhome Cathedral Basilica stands today, used to be known as Betuma in the past. St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, is said to have arrived in the region somewhat in the middle of first century A.D. He initially preached at a place called Little Mount (Chinnamalai in Tamil Nadu) and was put to death at St. Thomas Mount in the year 72 A.D. Soon after his death a church was built over his burial place and it is this church that after series of renovations stand as Santhome Basilica Cathedral.

Features
Each religion goes to a particular place of worship. For example-: the Hindus visit the temple, the Muslims visit the mosque and the Christians to the church. But usually the non-Hindus or non-Muslims, or even non-Christians will have a peculiar type of curiosity towards the holy place of the other religion, as they don't visit them often. They are not quite acquainted to the atmosphere of that holy place. And if it has some historical facts buried in it then the curiosity doubles up.

Here we are going to speak about such a kind of holy place. The Santhome Cathedral Basilica Church in Chennai is a sacred place especially for the Catholic Christians. Touring to this Madras Santhome Cathedral Basilica church is pretty easy, as you will get auto rickshaws, 'call taxis' and even luxurious cabs. Auto rickshaws are the cheapest ones but bargain carefully before you get into one. The standard charge is Rs.8 for every kilometer. The call taxis are the cabs that you get on your doorstep at any time whenever you call them. They charge higher but they are very active in their service.

The name of Santhome Cathedral Basilica was derived from the name St. Thomas who is an archbishop of the Catholic Christians. St. Thomas who is a hard-core devotee of Jesus Christ was buried in this place and as a tribute to his soul a church has been built up in this southern part of Marina beach.

This church in Madras is been erected in accordance to the Gothic style of architecture. Also you can read the stained glass were the divine moment of St. Thomas's meeting with the resurrected Christ is been depicted. Some remains of the corpse and also a part of the St. Thomas's bone are been preserved in the crypt.

The cathedral at Santhome was built by the Portuguese between 14th and 15th century A.D. The cathedral has been built in a typical neo Gothic style. The shrines included in the cathedral is a small hand bone and the lance that was used to end the life of the apostle in this world. The 50 metres high building has been constantly renovated, following the ravages made by the time. An important fact regarding the cathedral is that, it is the second only church in the world that has been erected over the burial place of an apostle. The cathedral holds a 3 feet high statue of Virgin Mary, believed to be imported from Portugal in the year 1543 A.D. The reaching spire goes as high as 50 metres and the width of the nave is about 10 metres. The cathedral is provided with stained glass and 14 wood plaques that depict St. Thomas' encountered with the resurrected Christ.

The cathedral, which was blessed in 1896 A.D. and raised to the dignity of a basilica by Pope Pius XII, in the year 1956 gathers pilgrims from far off places. The renovation works from last decade has restored the damages caused to the monument. The cathedral walls might have been weakened but the the glory is still there.