The St. Francis Church is located in Fort Kochi, Ernakulam district, Kerala. It is the first European Church in India. Vasco da Gama, the first European to come to India was buried here at the St. Francis Church. St. Francis Church was originally dedicated to Santo Antonio, the patron Saint of Portugal. Situated 2 Km west of Mattancherry in Fort Cochin, St. Francis Church is a living historical monument and one of the main tourist attractions in Fort Kochi.

The St. Francis Church was originally a wooden structure. In AD 1506, the Portuguese Viceroy, Dom Francisco Almeida was permitted by the Cochin Raja to reconstruct the buildings in stone masonry. Consequently, the Franciscan friars refurbished the wooden Church with bricks and mortar and a tiled roof was erected. In 1516 A.D the new church was completed and it was dedicated to St. Antony.

When the Dutch captured Kochi in 1663, they converted it into their official church and made some renovations in AD 1779. This St. Francis church was under the control of the Dutch until 1795 when the British captured Kochi from the Dutch. They allowed the Dutch to retain the church for sometime. In 1804, the Dutch willingly surrendered the church to the Anglican Communion when it was passed to Ecclesiastical Department of the Government of India. It is said that the Anglicans changed the name of the patron saint to St. Francis.

The St. Francis church became a protected monument in April 1923 under the Protected Monuments Act of 1904. The Cenotaph, in memory of the residents of Cochin who fell in the First Great War, was erected in 1920 and was unveiled by the Governor of Madras in October that year. The boundary walls were erected in 1924. In 1947, the congregation joined the Protestant Church of South India (CSI).

Being a modest unpretentious structure, The St. Francis Church has no particular architectural merit, but it stands as a landmark of history and church architecture of India. It is interesting to note that numerous churches have been built in India keeping the St. Francis church as the model. It has been raised on a plan similar to the earlier types prevalent in Kerala, though in elevation This Church has discarded the idea of dominating tower over the chance.