Built by the Portuguese in 1523 over what tradition holds is the tomb of St Thomas the Apostle, and rebuilt by the British in neo-Gothic style in 1896. It is one of only three churches in the world raised over the burial place of an apostle, the others being St Peter's in Rome and Santiago de Compostela.

Built in 1712 and rebuilt in 1772 on Armenian Street, this church serves a community that traded in Madras from the seventeenth century. Its belfry carries six bells, among the largest in the city, and the courtyard paving is made of the tombstones of Armenian merchants, the oldest dated 1663.

Built in 1718 by Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg, the German missionary who reached Tharangambadi in 1706, set up the first printing press in India to print in Tamil and made the first Tamil translation of the New Testament. Ziegenbalg is buried inside the church. It is still in use and is among the oldest Protestant churches in India.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health grew out of three apparitions reported in the 16th and 17th centuries - to a shepherd boy, to a lame buttermilk seller, and to Portuguese sailors saved from a storm, who built the first chapel here. The present white Gothic basilica was raised to minor basilica status by Pope John XXIII in 1962. Its eleven-day feast at the end of August draws pilgrims of every faith, which is why it is called the Lourdes of the East.

Built in 1779 in the gardens beside the Sivaganga tank, this church honours Christian Friedrich Schwartz, the Danish-German missionary who served as adviser to the Thanjavur court and guardian to the young prince Serfoji II. After Schwartz's death, Serfoji commissioned a marble memorial from the English sculptor John Flaxman, which shows the missionary on his deathbed with the prince at his side. It still stands inside, and the church remains in use.

Built by Jesuit priests in the grounds of St Joseph's College at the foot of the Rockfort, the church was modelled on the Basilica at Lourdes in France and completed in the late 19th century. Its slender neo-Gothic spire rises above the busy Teppakulam area, and inside are stained-glass windows and a grotto. The annual feast in February draws a large gathering from the city and around.

Founded by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century for the Parava fishing community of the coast, the shrine of Panimaya Matha, Our Lady of Snows, was raised to a basilica in 1982. Its white façade stands near the old sea front of Thoothukudi. The annual feast in early August brings the whole town out, and on rare occasions, every several years, the Golden Car festival draws pilgrims from across southern India.

A fishing village on a sandy headland jutting into the Gulf of Mannar, Manapad is linked with St Francis Xavier, who stayed here in the 1540s in a cave at the foot of the cliff. The Holy Cross Church on the headland, built in 1581, is said to hold a relic of the True Cross, and its feast in September draws pilgrims from all over the coast. From the headland there are long views along the beaches.

This brilliant white Gothic-style Catholic church, its central spire rising more than 150 feet above the Kanyakumari shore, is one of the landmarks of the town's skyline. It honours Our Lady of Ransom, a devotion the Portuguese brought to this coast in the 16th century, and serves a fishing community that has been Christian for nearly five hundred years. The present building went up in the 20th century over a much older chapel.

Founded in the 16th century after Francis Xavier's mission along this coast, the cathedral at Kottar is among the oldest Christian foundations in Tamil Nadu. Its white facade and towers dominate the old quarter of Nagercoil, and the December feast of St Francis Xavier fills the surrounding streets. It is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kottar.