JESUITS IN MARAVA COUNTRY A GLANCE

According to oral tradition among Tamil Christians also backed up by Christian missionary organizations, the earliest Tamil converts to Christianity can be traced to the 1^st century when the apostle Saint Thomas visited South India. St .Thomas established a settlement of Christians baptized by him at Mylapore [the Portuguese meliapore] in modern Chennai which led to the place being known as Santhome. St .Thomas mount in Chennai, the place where St.Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, was believed to have been martyred is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians.  Although Christianity came to Tamil nadu from the time of Saint Thomas the Apostle, the revival of Christianity dates back to Francis Xavier. Because of the perseverance and hard work of the missionaries, many Tamilians have become Christians, who are the second largest in number after the Christians in Kerala.¹