Catholic Church in Sri Lanka

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. The country comes under the province of Colombo and is made up of 12 dioceses including one archdiocese. There are approximately 1.2 million Catholics in Sri Lanka representing around 6.1% of the total population (according to the 2012 census).[2]

Sri Lankan Catholics
Official Catholic Church flag. Include the Anuradhapura cross.
Total population
1,237,038 (2012)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Province
 Western 637,729
 North Western 278,755
 Northern 162,849
 Central 62,476
 Eastern 46,792
Religions
Catholicism
Languages
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In 1995, at a ceremony in Colombo, Pope John Paul II beatified Father Joseph Vaz (originally, José Vaz), a Portuguese early missionary to the country, who is known as the Apostle of Ceylon. On 17 September 2014, Pope Francis approved the vote to have him declared a saint.[3] Pope Francis canonized Father Joseph Vaz on Galle Face Green, in Colombo on 14 January 2015.

Early history

Records of ancient travelers to Sri Lanka report that a separate area was allocated for Christians in the ancient capital Anuradhapura and there was a Christian chapel used by the Persian merchants who came to Ceylon in around the 5th century.[4] The Persian cross excavated in Anuradhapura belonging to the 5th century and the decorative baptismal pond excavated near Vavuniya prove the presence of Christians in Sri Lanka during the early period of the Anuradhapura Kingdom. Two crosses excavated around Anuradhapura in 1913 are said to be identical to the cross at St Thomas Mount near Chennai.[5]

Modern history

On 15 November 1505 a Portuguese fleet commanded by Lourenço de Almeida, having been driven by a storm to the shores of Sri Lanka, landed in Colombo. With the permission of the king of Kotte, Dharma Parakramabahu IX, Almeida erected a trade station and a small chapel in Colombo. The chapel was dedicated to St Lawrence. Franciscan Friar Vicente, the chaplain of the fleet, celebrated Mass. This is the first record of a Catholic Mass on Sri Lankan soil. Over the next few centuries, Portuguese, Dutch, and Irish missionaries spread the religion in Sri Lanka, most notably on the western and northwestern coast, where in some places Catholics are half the population.

Important churches

Cathedral
St. Lucia's Cathedral, Colombo
Dioceses Church Type Town
Anuradhapura St. Joseph's Cathedral, Anuradhapura CathedralAnuradhapura
Badulla St. Mary’s Cathedral CathedralBadulla
Batticaloa St. Mary's Cathedral CathedralBatticaloa
Chilaw St. Mary's Cathedral, Chilaw CathedralChilaw
Colombo St. Lucia's Cathedral Cathedral & seat of the ArchbishopColombo
Galle St. Mary’s Cathedral CathedralGalle
Jaffna St. Mary’s Cathedral CathedralJaffna
Kalutara St. Sebastian's Church, Diyalagoda Cathedral Beruwala
Kandy St. Anthony's Cathedral, Kandy CathedralKandy
Kurunegala St. Anne's Cathedral, Kurunegala CathedralKurunegala
Mannar St. Sebastian’s Cathedral CathedralMannar
Ratnapura St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Ratnapura CathedralRatnapura
Trincomalee St. Mary's Cathedral, Trincomalee CathedralTrincomalee

National Shrines
Dioceses Church Type Town
Colombo Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka Shrine & BasilicaRagama
Colombo St. Anthony’s National Shrine Shrine & minor BasilicaColombo
Matara Shrine of Our Lady of Matara ShrineMatara
Mannar Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu ShrineMadhu
Kandy St. Anthony's Church, Wahakotte ShrineWahakotte

See also

Notes
  1. "A3 : Population by religion according to districts, 2012". Census of Population & Housing, 2011. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka.
  2. "Census of Population and Housing 2011". www.statistics.gov.lk.
  3. Zenit News Agency Article
  4. "Chapter X". lakdiva.org.
  5. Christmas yesteryear Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Daily News (Sri Lanka) Article

References
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