Mumbai’s oldest church – St Thomas Cathedral to celebrate its three-hundredth anniversary on Christmas Day

Waiting with bated breath to celebrate the tricentenary of one of Mumbai’s oldest Anglican church – St Thomas Cathedral – that falls on Christmas Day, is its congregation, who’ve left no stone unturned to commemorate the milestone.

The cathedral that opened it doors in 1718 and lent its name to Churchgate station on the Western railway Line, is today a haven for tourists, office goers and locals, who walk in for a quiet moment or to admire the memorial tombstones, their forlorn statues and poignant obituaries pay ode to gallant army men, who died fighting in wars for the British Raj or battling diseases of the times. 

Since the start of 2018, the Cathedral community has hosted events to mark the occasion. For instance, in a landmark move, the Cathedral’s trustees have lent 50 prized artefacts to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (CSMVS), which has culminated into an ongoing exhibition, The Living Cathedral. Notable is a pastoral staff with exquisite silver sculptures of Jesus leading two sheep (symbolic of flock), objects bearing diocesan emblems, a gold and amethyst Bishop’s ring, silverware, maps, structural plans documenting how “...the Public Works Department began to improve the dignity of the Cathedral-to-be, by raising the tower”, and birth records that note Mumbai-born The Jungle Book (1894) writer and poet Rudyard Kipling’s baptism date in beautiful cursive slant. 

But to truly grasp the grandiose of this neoclassical-and-gothic-revival mashup – which the exhibition either falls short in capturing because the objects feel few and spaced far in-between or in a good way fires up a yearning to know more – one must first be acquainted with the 2004 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage awardee.

Prepping up the facade 

The church community headed by chairman Solomon Raj, and Meera Isaacs, principal of Cathedral & John Connon School engaged the services of Chief conservation architect Sheetal Gandhi to restore the Cathedral since four years now to ready it for 2018. She says, whenever the cash registers rang at the Cathedral in spurts and bouts, it was all spent in restoration. The stone facade is cleaned, back lights to illuminate the stain glass are installed, the leaky roof is water proofed, the site is paved with soft and hard landscaping. Even the fountain, defunct for 30 years, now spurts water. One the inside, its timber doors, windows and furniture are coated in light polish after centuries-old multiple layers of paint were peeled off. The stonework on either side of entrance were stripped off paint as old marriage photos in the archives showed these were exposed. 

Making a peculiar sight are few brass and marble memorial plaques and tombstones, partially restored and now look like part-new, part-original hybrid wonders, so visitors can comprehend the art of restoration. “In early 2019, we will complete illuminating the facade and install solar panels,” says Gandhi. 

October saw the addition of two stained glass windows crafted by expert Swati Chandgadkar, one on each extreme of the nave. One shows the Jesse tree [Jesus’ family tree] comprising Jesse, Solomon, David, Mary, and Jesus. The other has four evangelists, armed with a Bible surrounded by Mumbai’s Flora Fountain, Rajabai Clock Tower, CST station, as if spreading Christianity around. “I didn’t want these panels to match the existing stained glass panels. The new ones are full of colour like India as a country is. Even Christ in it looks Indian,” says Chandgadkar. 

December saw a new plaque on the left lawn asserts the Grade I structure as Point Zero – the starting point for measuring distances as 10 of the 16 milestones commissioned in 1817, were found in their original spots.

Closer to B-day

The annual Nativity play will take place after the December 23 Sunday morning service, and the person in charge, Uma Moses, 52, is most excited, “The same play about the birth of Christ every year can get boring. This time, we have a Charlie’s Angels Nativity play, where God (Charlie) will depute three angels (all girls) on assignments. One will tell Mary she’s carrying Jesus, one will convince Joseph to marry Mary as this is God’s plan, and a third to tell the shepherds to spread the news that Christ is born.”

Ravi Joshua, Choral director since 1989, says they are working on recreating that historical moment when the Cathedral opened its doors on Christmas, 1718. “Records show that on this day priests walked from Bombay Castle – roughly near Town Hall towards the INS Angre Indian Navy headquarters – where the chapel originally began. We’re working on a symbolic entry where the church gates will be closed, and open after the Bishop says a prayer.

We will also sing Psalm 24, which was sung in 1718,” informs Joshua.

Carpeting the lawns are sprightly potted poinsettias from Bhuleshwar’s flower market, and white carnations for the interiors will soon follow. About 400 chairs will be added to seat the tide of attendees for the 10.30 pm mass on Christmas Eve. “And as always, all are welcome,” says its Presbyter in charge, Reverend Avinash Rangayya.