159 when St. Thomas left their town, persecuted by the gentiles, he came with some companions here to this city of Maliapur, which at that time was ten or twelve years, or rather, leagues’ long and a long way back from the sea. The sea then ate the land and invaded it. Saint Thomas started preaching the faith here and converted some to it. He was then persecuted by others who wanted to kill him, and that is why he lived away from people, often hiding in the mountains. And one day, a hunter was wandering in the mountains with his bow in his hand and saw a largeflock of peacocks on the ground, and a beautiful large one in the middle of them, standing on a boulder; the hunterfired at it and his arrow pierced it down the middle. It and the others tookflight and in the air it turned into a man’s body. The hunter looked at it amazed until he saw it fall to the ground. Then he went to the city and told of how this miracle had happened. The city governor and other lords went to the place the hunter showed them and they believed it to be the body of Blessed Saint Thomas; they also went to see the place where he had been wounded and they found two clear footprints in the middle of the boulder, which he had made when he took off wounded. Upon seeing such a miracle, they exclaimed: this man was truly a saint and we did not believe him. They then brought him from that place and buried him in the said church, where he still lies; then they brought the stone with the footprints on it and put it next to the grave. They never managed to bury his right arm, nor put it in the tomb. They would cover it one day and then the next it would be out again, and they left it like that for a long time. The local gentiles considered him to be a saint and used to worship him. Many people from different places made pilgrimages here. When the Chinese came, they wanted to cut off his arm and take it back to their country as a relic. When they tried to cut it with a sword, Blessed Saint Thomas drew his arm into the tomb and he was never injured again. And thus, he lies in that church, poorly made by his disciples
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