English
Church of Our Lady of Expectation (Monte Grande)
Mylapore [Meliapor/São Tomé de Meliapor], Tamil Nadu, India
Religious Architecture
According to the tradition of the old community of Saint Thomas Christians, it was on this hill, called Peria Malai in Tamil, situated in the present-day suburbs of Chennai, that the apostle Saint Thomas was martyred. The existing building, according to Portuguese testimonies, was composed of a small, half-ruined hermitage where the mortal remains of Saint Thomas and his disciples reposed. At the request of the captain and factor of the Pearl Fishery Coast, the stonemason Vicente Fernandes erected a small church here in1523. The Portuguese authorities assumed the responsibility of protecting the apostle’s mortal remains and they moved his body to the centre of Mylapore, to the place where the basilica dedicated to the saint now stands. The chapel was enlarged again in 1547 on the initiative of Captain Gabriel de Ataíde and the building acquired its present spatial structure. The chancel, which has a ribbed vault, battlements and conical spires, was built in the first phase of the construction in 1526. Articulated with the chancel, a longer nave was built with a barrel vault and a ribbed vaulted atrium with the Cross of Christ on the keystone. The church was restored once more in 1685 and again in 1723, the stairway leading to the top of the hill being from this time, as can be seen from the inscription on the entrance arch of the said stairway. Of these later works, the façade has a classical design that is very different from the volume of the building. There is a 7th century granite cross in bas-relief at the foot of the altar that bears an inscription in the Pahlavi language. The cross has certain affinities with another that is to be found in Saint Mary’s Church at Valiapally, near Kottayam. A high quality painting of the Virgin Mary with Child Jesus is also to be found in the church. The painting was removed in 1559 by the Nayak of Chandranagari when he attacked Mylapore, but was later returned.