Popularly known as Santhome Church, the International Shrine of St. Thomas Basilica has an underground tomb chapel where the pilgrims can pray in front of the sepulchre of St. Thomas. Marco Polo the great Venetian traveller visited the tomb in 1292 and recorded about the tomb in his travel diaries. People believed that the sand taken from the tomb of St. Thomas has miraculous healing powers. "The Christians who go thither in pilgrimage take of the earth from the place where the saint was killed(or buried), and give a portion thereof to anyone who is sick of a quartan or a tertian fever ; and by the power of God and of St. Thomas the sick man is incontinently cured."--Travels of Marco Polo Vol.II by Yule Edited by Cordier.
Faithful had been to wait long years to get a little sand known as St. Thomas sand from the tomb,as the tomb had had been opening very infrequently and with long intervals of few hundred years.
In view of the convenience of the pilgrims and St. Thomas Christians the church has made a beautiful credit card like St. Thomas Card 
with a little of the St. Thomas sand embedded in it. This can be carried easily like a credit card in the wallet or purse.
Santhome has few premier educational institutions. Rosary Matriculation School, St. Bedes School, Santhome Higher Secondary school, St. Raphels School and Dominic Savio School are some of them. The official residence of the Archbishop of the Madras - Mylapore Archdiocese is also in Santhome adjacent to Santhome Basilica. The consular office of Russia and Spain is also in this area. The Santhome high Road stretches from the light house side of the famous Marina beach and goes through in front of the St. Thomas basilica towards Adayar.Some of the busses plying through Santhome include 6A, 6D, 12B, 21B, 21D, 21E, 21L, 27D, PP51, PP19, PP21 and PP66.
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Last updated on Friday July 25, 2008 at 14:52:52 PDT (GMT -0700)
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