Feast of St Thomas 2028: Date, History & Significance

Pilgrimages are made to the San Thome Basilica and St Thomas Mount in Chennai, to Malayattoor (a hill church in Kerala where he is said to have prayed), and to Kodungallur (Muziris), the traditional landing place. Novenas, a solemn Qurbana / Mass, and processions mark the day; for the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara churches it is a founder's feast.

Thomas, called Didymus ('the twin'), is the apostle who doubted the Resurrection until he touched Christ's wounds and said 'My Lord and my God.' The Acts of Thomas and the constant tradition of the Kerala Christians hold that he sailed east, preached among the Jewish trading communities and others of the Malabar coast, and was killed with a lance at Mylapore; his tomb there became a pilgrim shrine.

Source: The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles; the liturgical calendar of the Church

The India mission of Thomas is recorded in the third-century Acts of Thomas and is the founding tradition of the Saint Thomas (Nasrani) Christians of Kerala, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. 3 July is a Kerala holiday; the older Roman calendar kept 21 December.

• Indian Christian community practice (Latin, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, CSI, CNI, Orthodox)
• The Roman Missal / liturgical calendars

1. On 3 July, India's Christians honour St Thomas the Apostle, held by tradition to have landed in Kerala in 52 CE and died at Mylapore.
2. Pilgrims gather at the San Thome Basilica in Chennai, built over his tomb, and at St Thomas Mount, as well as at the Syro-Malabar churches of Kerala that trace their founding to him.
3. The Syro-Malabar Church keeps the day as Dukrana, with the Qurbana and processions.

• Kerala, Chennai (Mylapore). Dukrana on 3 July — pilgrimages to San Thome, St Thomas Mount, Malayattoor and Kodungallur; a solemn Qurbana and processions.
• India-wide. Kept by all the Saint Thomas / Syrian churches as the feast of the apostle of India.

• Nercha — Rice and payasam served free to pilgrims at Kerala churches on the feast.

Feast of St Thomas falls on Monday, 3 July 2028. The apostle who, by tradition, brought Christianity to India in 52 CE.

at sunrise

Feast of St Thomas is dated by 3 July (Dukrana, the martyrdom) in India; 21 December in the older Western calendar. The movable feasts of the Christian year (Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost) are all reckoned from Easter, which is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox; the fixed feasts (Christmas, Epiphany, the Annunciation, All Saints and All Souls) keep the same civil date each year.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.