Miraculous spring

Fr.Guy Yachard, S.J. who was in Mylapore and Little Mount in 1710 writes. “From the Church of Our Lady one climbs to the top of the mount, where our Fathers have erected a small building. It is built on the rock, which needed much labour to level in order to make this small hermitage somewhat comfortable. At the southern end of the hermitage, which is squarebuilt, is the Church of the Resurrection. A cross, one foot high, is to be seen there, in a small hollow made in the rock, on which the altar of the Church rests. This little cross, which is in relief and cut in the hollow of the rock, entirely resembles that of Great Mount except in size…

About 1551, Little Mount, which was till then only a steep rocky elevation, began to be cleared and leveled for the convenience of the pilgrims. The fact is stated on a big stone, which has been fixed at the top of the steps towards the north of the hill. The Church of Our Lady was built the small hermitage which is on the top of the rock, and the Church of the Resurrection, where the cross engraved on the rock is to be found.

Fr. Tachard also mentions two other monuments at Little Mount. One is the cave and the other is the miraculous spring. Of the cave he writes: Seven or eight steps lead to the altar, beneath which there is cave about 14 feet broad and 15 or 16 feet long…One enters it with some difficulty through a crevice in the rock… It has not been thought fit to embellish this entrance, or even to change anything in the whole cave, because it is believed that St. Thomas often retired into this solitary place to pray. Our Missionaries have put up an altar at the eastern end of the cave. There is a tradition among the people that a sort of window on the southern end of about 2 feet, which throws a very dim light into the cave, was miraculously made and that it was through this opening that St. Thomas escaped.

Of the miraculous spring Fr. Tachard has left us this record. This is called St. Thomas fountain. There is a rather common. Tradition in the country that the Holy Apostle who lived at Little Mount, being moved to see that the people who came in crowds to hear his preaching suffered much from thirst, as water could be had only at a great distance on the plain, knelt in prayer on the highest part of the hill, struck the rock with his stick, and instantly there gushed forth a spring of clear water, which cured the sick when they drank of it trusting in the intercession of the Saint. The stream which now runs at the foot of Little Mount appeared only at the beginning of last century. It was formed by the overflowing and bursting of a distant tank owing to heavy rain. This formed the little canal which in times of drought contains saltish water, because at 2 leagues from Little Mount it communicates with the sea. There are yet people alive who affirm that more than fifty years ago(Fr. Tachard was writing in 1711) they saw this hole in the rock just as I have presently described it, and they add that, heretical women having thrown dirt therein to oppose, they said, the superstition of the populace, the water receded immediately, and that these women died that very day of an extraordinary colic in punishment of their audacity. The water is continually being taken and drunk. Missionaries and Christians affirm that it produces sudden cures even to the present day.

Fr. Tachard also speaks of the devotion in which these two Mounts were held, “ I must say, Reverend Father, that this Little Mount is a regular sanctuary of devotion. Every thing there breathes of recollection and piety, and it would be impossible to go over its monuments without having one’s heart touched with ardent desire to give oneself to God… During the two months that I spent at Little Mount last year, a day hardly passed by without my seeing horsemen, carriages, and palanquins going to Great Mount and returning, and I was told, that, when the steamers for Europe have left Madras, almost half of the wealthy people of that great city go and spend entire months at that rural place”.

On the occasion of the 19th centenary of St. Thomas in 1972, a big(round) church was built and consecrated, for the benefit of the increasing parishioners and pilgrims.

Weekdays: 

• 6.15. a.m. Holy Mass
• 11.30 a.m. Holy Mass

Every sunday

• 6.30 a.m Holy Mass in English
• 8.00 a.m Holy Mass in Tamil
• 10.00 a.m Holy Mass in Malayalam
• 11.30 a.m Holy Mass in Tamil
• 5.00 p.m Holy Mass in Tamil

Every friday

• 11.30. a.m Holy Mass, Adoration Anointing of sick
• 6.00. p.m Rosary, Holy Mass, Adoration
• 11.30. a.m Holy Mass
• 5.00. p.m Confession
• 6.00. p.m Rosary, Holy Mass

Every day 6.00. a.m confession

Every saturday 5.00. p.m Rosary at all 20 stationsROSARY WITH SPECIAL INTENTIONS
1st Week For the welfare of families
2nd Week For the Unemployed/Success in Business
3rd Week For the Aged and Sick people
4th Week For the Convention, Witnessing Life & Vocation
5th Week For all the movements, Pious Associations and Anbiyams of Parish

Every day 6.00. a.m Adoration

The tri-church

Its one of the lost / forgotten treasures of the catholic faith. It is the place believed to hold the cave in which St.Thomas the apostle of Jesus Christ lived. The tri-church that host St.Thomas are:

1. Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Little Mount, Chennai – Where St.Thomas lived
-It has the cave in which he lived and the miracle where the caves walls opened to his touch, leaving his hand and foot print when he escaped from the soldiers
-The miraculous spring where he drank water from and the bleeding cross which he carved with his own hands on the rock, where he prayed and shed blood. (Blood Rock Cross)
– The small mountain from where he preached (where by the name “Little Mount”)

2. St. Thomas Mount
– When the soldiers chased him from little mount, he escaped from the cave by touching it and ran towards the big mountain where he was finally killed by a spear thrown by the soldier as he was climbing the mountain. So St.Thomas Mount church is the place where St.Thomas was killed

3. Santhome Cathedral
– This is where is body was put to rest, and also where the Bishop of Chennai resides.