Every year on September 14, Catholic Church celebrates Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Through this church is celebrating the feast of the cross which drove away darkness and brought in the light. The cross is called Christ's glory; it is saluted as His triumph.
On this special occasion, it is apt to look at the Cross that Apostle St. Thomas reputedly enshrined at Kokkamangalam in the state of Kerala in India. Tradition holds it to be one of the seven places where he founded Christian communities in India. It is situated on the western shore of Vembanad lake.
It is traditionally believed that the cross that St. Thomas erected here happened to be thrown away into the Vembanad Lake by fanatics. But the cross safely floated over the surface of the lake and reached a small island, adjacent to South Pallipuram. The miraculously found Cross was solemnly taken by the people and a small Church was built to commemorate the event. In later years the cross was taken over to Our Lady of Assumption church Pallippuram.
The cross that Apostle Thomas erected by his hand in the soil of Kokkamangalam in AD 52 restored in Kokkamangalam in the year 2002, which was the 1,950th anniversary of St Thomas' arrival in Kerala and founding of Christian community in Kokkamangalam. The cross (see the images) had been reinstated in the same shape of the cross that St. Thomas raised at Kokkamangalam and now preserved at church in Pallippuram.
The foundation of the Cross having seven faces. Six of them had been depicted with the images of six other churches which Apostle founded in India and in the seventh face illustrated a lamp which symbolizes the faith in Christ which the land received from St. Thomas.
http://gallery.bizhat.com/showgallery.php/cat/1893 Click the link and visit the photos of the pilgrim centre.
The Relic of Apostle St. Thomas enshrined at Apostle St. Thomas pilgrim centre, Kokkamangalam, was brought from Ortona in Italy by Pope John Paul II in November 1999. A miraculous portrait of St. Thomas is also venerated in the pilgrim centre.