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[[Image:St Francis Cochin text.jpg|thumb|250px|right|History posted outside the church - click to enlarge.]]Founded by Franciscans who arrived in 1500 with the [[Portuguese]], the church was originally Catholic and dedicated to St Anthony. The famous Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama was buried in the church in 1524 - his remains were translated to Lisbon 14 years later.

In 1663 the church came under [[Dutch ]] control and was converted to Protestantism, it's its dedication removed. In 1804, after the British had taken possession of the area, the Dutch gave the church over to Anglicanism and St Francis became its patron. ==Memorial inscriptions==*Martin Krieger has transcribed available memorial inscriptions from the church. These can be viewed via the [http://fibis.ourarchives.online/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=278&s_id=0 FIBIS database].*The Dutch Churchbook of St Francis Church, Cochin, in the form of a xerox copy held at the British Library India Office, London, has been microfilmed by [[FamilySearch]] and is available at [[FamilySearch Centres]] and FS Affiliate Libraries as digitised microfilm '''498601''', [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/154421 catalogue entry]. A transcribed index of the names in this book, together with dates of death, can be seen on the [http://web.archive.org/web/20040314182003/http://www.geocities.com/tijso/cochin/index.htm Cochin Churchbook] website, now archived. The dates of death cover the period 1751-1804.

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francis_Church,_Cochin St. Francis Church on Wikipedia]*[http://www.geocitieshindu.com/tijsomp/2008/cochin05/index05/stories/2008050550750200.htm Dutch graves "Steeped in history: The St. Francis Church in CochinKochi has seen it all"]by Geeta Padmanabhan May 05, 2008 ''The Hindu'' Chennai