A Brief History of the Jaffna Diocese """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Roman Catholicism was introduced to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), in 1505. However, officially the Franciscan missionaries arrived in 1543 under the invitation of Buvenaeka Bahu, the king of Kotte. At the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, Sri Lanka was divided into three independent kingdoms. One of them, the Jaffna kingdom was ruled by King Chekasaraserkaran alias Sankili. The year 1544 is traditionally remembered as the ill-fated year that witnessed the bloody massacre of 600 to 700 Catholics in Mannar. Catholicism was implanted in Jaffna in the second or third decade of the same century. Initially the Portuguese missionaries had to face much opposition due to the policy followed by the Portuguese military and the rules. However, the arrival of the various missionary congregations accelerated the process of conversion and the expansion of Catholicism. The firm and solid religious foundation laid by the Portuguese missionaries made the native Christian converts profess their faith with strong conviction particularly, in times of severe trails and difficulties. The Dutch, another colonial power, ousted the Portuguese in 1658 and occupied the territories ruled by them. The new rulers fearing, that the survival of (Portugese introduced) Catholicism in the county might cause serious problem to the political stability and economic advantages of the Dutch East India company, promulgated many anti-Catholic laws to root out Catholicism completely from the county and took measures to replace it with the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Religion. Thus, Catholicism was proscribed; Catholic Churches and schools were confiscated; Catholics were compelled to attend Dutch Kerks and Schools for instruction; harbouring of Catholic priests and possessing Catholic symbols were forbidden under severe penalties. For thirty years Catholicism survived in the county without the ministration of any priest. The timely arrival of Fr. Joseph Vaz and other Oratorian missionaries from Goa and their heroic and dedicated service safeguarded the Catholic faith from extinction in the county. As a result, Pope John Paul the II beatified Fr. Vaz on 21st January 1995 for his heroic deeds of witnessing. In 1796, the British became the third colonial rulers overthrowing the Dutch. With the arrival of the British, the situation changed favourably towards the Catholics and in 1806 the Catholics were granted religious freedom. For the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka the first half of the 19th century remained more a period of reorganization of the mission than of expansion and growth. The Sri Lankan Church that had been placed under ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Cochin from the inception was constituted into a separate independent Vicariate in 1834 and the same was further divided into Colombo and Jaffna Vicariates in 1947. Mgr. Orazio Bettacchini and Italian Oratorian was nominated as the first Vicar Apostolic of Jaffna. From 1848 the Oblates of Mary Immaculate from France, obtained from their Founder himself by Mgr. Bettacchini, and from 1862 the Holy Family sisters of Bordeaux rendered great services in different parishes and started many schools and institutions in different areas of the Vicariate. On the 1st of September 1886, hierarchy was established in Sri Lanka with Colombo as the Archdiocese and Jaffna and Kandy as suffragan dioceses. Rt. Rev. Dr. Theophilus Andrew Melizan OMI was the first Bishop of Jaffna Diocese. Later, other congregations too sent their members to serve in the diocese. With the independence of Ceylon in 1948 and the emergence of nationalism, attempts were made to indigenize the Church. In the meantime, the native clergy had increased in number and gradually many responsible administrative offices were handed over to the natives. On 25 August 1950 Rt. Rev. Dr. J. Emilianuspillai OMI took charge of the diocese as the first native Bishop. During the 22 years of his episcopate, Jaffna diocese witnessed immense progress in the field of education, and pastoral, religious and social spheres. Bishop Emilianus introduced many changes envisaged in the 16 documents of the Vatican Council. Bishop B. Deogupillai was appointed Bishop of Jaffna on the 18th of December 1972 and assumed office on 9th January 1973. To implement the proposals of Vatican II, Bishop Deogupillai founded new centres, put up new buildings and trained personnel for the various new apostolate. With the retirement of Bishop Deogupillai, the present Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundranayagam took charge of the administration of the Jaffna diocese in July 1992. Ref : jaffnadiocese.org
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 10:53:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015