Our Lady of the Belt Syrian in Homos City, is believed to have a piece of the belt of Our Lady Mary the Mother of God. The tradition says that God granted St. Thomas the Apostle, who was in India the grace of seeing Our Lady in her journy to heaven, and one of the accompanying angles gave St Thomas as a souvenir the belt of Saint Mary. This belt travelled the Christian Middle East in the 1st-4th centuries, till it rested in this Church in Homos. It was miraculously rediscovered about 150 years ago, when the Church's altar was opened for rennovation purposes, and a wooden box was found burried inside it, with the belt inside it and a sheet of paper telling its story.
I had the blessing of visiting this church and the nearby oratory where the belt of Our Lady is reserved, on the last day of the spiritual retreat, as our priestly group gathered again in Homos, enjoyed lunch with its Catholic, Orthodox bishops and some cleargy in the Aga House . A protestant preacher was also present.