The St. Philomena's Church in Mysore (140km from Bangalore, India) is one of the oldest churches in India. It is over 200 years old. Initially over 250 years ago there was a small church in its place. When the capital of Mysore state was move from Srirangapatnam to Mysore city in 1799, many British officers and soldiers came and settled down in Mysore. The Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III realized the need for a Christian church for these people. So the Maharaja gave them a small plot of land on the Mysore-Bangalore Road and a little church came up there. As the city expanded and the Christian population of the city increased there was a need for a larger church.

So plans for made to build a larger church and thus came into existence the famous St. Philomena Church of Mysore. Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV laid the foundation of the new church on October 28th, 1933 that was to be built in the place of the small church built by his grandfather. A Frenchman named Daly designed the church. The floor plan of the cathedral is in the form of a cross. The long part of the cross is the 'nave', which is the congregation hall. The two arms of the cross are the 'transepts'. The fourth part containing the altar and the choir is the 'crossing'.

Behind this is an exquisite marble altar on which the statue of St. Philomena is placed. There is also an idol of Christ lying in his sacred wounds. Above the sanctum there are lovely stained glass windows from France with painting depicting the birth of Jesus Christ, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The part of the church that is most attractive is the towers or spires. These towers resemble that of a cathedral in Cologne in Germany and those of St. Patrick's Church in New York. The two spires are 175 feet tall.