Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Thomas of Mylapore
Former Roman Catholic diocese in Tamil Nadu, India (1606-1952)
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Shrine of Saint Thomas in Meliapore, 18th century print.
The Diocese of Saint Thomas of Mylapore, presently in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (or in Portuguese São Tomé de Meliapor, in Latin Sancti Thomae de Meliapor), was a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in India. It was a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Goa, under the Portuguese patronage. It was founded at 1606 and abandoned at 1952.
It was located in Mylapore, and derives its name from the site of its cathedral in which the Apostle St. Thomas was reportedly interred on the site of his martyrdom and the Tamil word Mailapur (i.e. the town of peacocks), which the Greeks rendered as Maliarpha, the Portuguese as Meliapor, and the English as Mylapore.
Episcopal ordinaries
Sebastião de São Pedro, Augustinian Order (O.E.S.A.) (9 Jan 1606 – 16 Feb 1615), next bishop of Cochin
Luís de Brito de Menezes, O.E.S.A. (18 May 1615 – 27 May 1627), next Bishop of Cochin
1 1975 is the year of East Timor's Declaration of Independence and subsequent invasion by Indonesia. In 2002, East Timor's independence was fully recognized.