liRve been icorrupted from Calmelmina, e saxo^ that he was thrust 

 through by a spear from a rock ; and so may mean the rock in the 

 neighbodrhood of Maliapoor nov^^ called Monte pegueno, or the lit- 

 tle Mount. That spot is still a place of pilgrimage to Syrians, 

 Arabs and Armenians, (both Roman catholic and protestant), and 

 even the heathens keep a lamp burning there from veneration to his 

 name. A tradition so constant among people so distant from each 

 other, and so opposite in religious faith, is not lightly to be rejected ; 

 and may go far to fix the meaning of the unknown word in the 

 two most ancient records. 



We know from Eusebius that Pantsenus (who flourished A. D. 

 180) found the gospel of St. Matthew in Malabar. Some mission 

 therefore had taken place at a time closely bordering on the apos- 

 tolic age. T 



In the acts of the council of Nice (in the opening of the I cen- 

 tury) we find Johannes, Bishop of India Maxima and Persia, enu- 

 merated among the bishops of the council ; and the testimony of 

 Cosmas Indicopleustes is express. In Taprobana insula ad infe- 

 riorem Indianiy ubi Indicum pelagus extaty Ecclesia christianO' 

 Turn habetuTy ubi clerici et fideles reperiuntur ; an ulterius 

 etiam ignoro. Similiter in mala ut vacant y (unde Malabar y) 

 tibt gignitur piper. In Calliana* vero ( sic nuncupant ) episco* 

 pus est, in Perside ordinari solitus. 



The Church of Maliapoor y from the death of the Apostle, lan- 

 guished till the yearl606, when Paul V. erected it into a see. The 

 whole coast of Coromandel from Negapatam northward, the kingdom 

 bf Orissa, Bengal, and Pegu, were subjected to the Bishop of St. 

 iThome. The patronage. had been given by Paul III. to the King 

 6f Portugal in the year 1534. 



The cleft in the rock which is now shewn as the tomb of the 

 Apostle was opened by Joseph Pinheiro, Bishop of St. Thome A. D. 

 1729; and the childish fables and pretended miracles that have been 

 industriously propagated to increase the reputation of their monas- 

 tery have thrown a shade of unmerited suspicion on the venerable tra- 

 dition of antiquity and the express testimony of many ancient writers. 



At the close of the ninth century his shrine was devoutly visited 

 by the ambassadors of the illustrious Alfred, who in the midst of 

 his vast projects of discovery and trade, was too wise to reject the 

 voice of all consentient witnesses. The chief of his embassy was 

 the first English bishop in India.f 



* Quilon» 



t Vide Gibbon. 



