At a distance of 12 & 15 Kms from Chennai Central Railway Station, Little Mount and St.Thomas Mount are well-known sacred locations for Christians in South India.
In response to legend, St. Thomas was one of many first Christians to succeed in India in 52 AD and to evangelise Christianity. He has spent the final years of his life in a cave on Little Mount. Legend states that Thomas was assassinated by a shot of an arrow in 72 AD on adjoining Mount, which later acquired the title St. Thomas Mount.
Little Mount has a historical church constructed by the Portuguese in 1551. On the entrance is a portrait of St. Thomas and Portuguese inscription. A shrine devoted to ‘Our Woman of Expectation’ was inbuilt 1523 by the Portuguese on St. Thomas Mount the place St. Thomas was martyred in 72 AD. The stone cross embedded into the wall of the alter is claimed to be the ‘bleeding cross’ that miraculously bled between 1558 and 1704. This place was visited by Pope John Paul II throughout his go to to India in 1986.