<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Of the first Indian missionaries, we have no account. There is a legend which attributes to the apostle Thomas the establishment of the Christian Church in India. Slowly does reason reject a tradition which imagination is so eager to embrace. It would be pleasant to accord the fullest faith to the legend of the apostolic origin of Christianity in India; but there is really no authority in its favor to divest it of all the attributes of fable. A very exciting account of life and death of the apostle in India is to be found in the pages of a Portugese historian. With apparent good faith Maffeus relates the miracles that Thomas wrought in India; how he converted certain Magi; how he built a temple at Meliapore; how he brought the dead to life; how e delivered himself of certain wonderful prophesies; and , finally how he became a martyr of the faith.Â
The Portugese, at all events, beleived these traditions, and invoked the miraculous aid of the saint when they went into battle.
Marco Polo, who visited India before the times of Portugese, relates that St. Thomas was accidentally killed when at prayer in a wood, by a low-caste man, who was shooting at peacocks; and that, as a consequence of this mischance,none of the poor man's tribe could ever enter the place where the saint lay buried. "Nor", adds the Venetian, "could twenty men force them in, nor ten hold them there, on account of the virtue of that sacred body."
Every one who visits Madras knows "St Thomas's Mount". It has for centuries been held, both by the Syrian and Romish churches, to be the burial place of the apostle; but the more the legend is investigated, the more fabulous it appears.
<span style='color:red'>I do not know a modern writer of any note who has the least faith in the story.</span>
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Above is written in 1859 by John William Kaye, a military British historian posted in India.
Page 3 & 4, "Christianity In India : An Historic Narrative"
About John WIlliam Kaye
The Portugese, at all events, beleived these traditions, and invoked the miraculous aid of the saint when they went into battle.
Marco Polo, who visited India before the times of Portugese, relates that St. Thomas was accidentally killed when at prayer in a wood, by a low-caste man, who was shooting at peacocks; and that, as a consequence of this mischance,none of the poor man's tribe could ever enter the place where the saint lay buried. "Nor", adds the Venetian, "could twenty men force them in, nor ten hold them there, on account of the virtue of that sacred body."
Every one who visits Madras knows "St Thomas's Mount". It has for centuries been held, both by the Syrian and Romish churches, to be the burial place of the apostle; but the more the legend is investigated, the more fabulous it appears.
<span style='color:red'>I do not know a modern writer of any note who has the least faith in the story.</span>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Above is written in 1859 by John William Kaye, a military British historian posted in India.
Page 3 & 4, "Christianity In India : An Historic Narrative"
About John WIlliam Kaye