St. Thomas, the Apostle of Christ landed in AD 52 at Kodungalur, the first centuary west coast harbour of Kerala (Pliny’s Primum Emporium India) and went on to establish seven churches for the faithful he evangelised in Kerala. Only one of the seven churches could claim continuous existence in the same location from the time of the Apostle. The church at Palayur is unique in that the present church has a continuous history of two millennia and stands on the same spot where Apostle first established it. The first church founded by St. Thomas continued to exist for many centuries and we know that in 1607 the Italian Jesuit Fr. Permission from the ecclesiastical authorities, to construct a more convenient church around the existing old structure for the parish of Palayur.