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<p> </p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7cbd2242-7fff-798e-20d4-e27dc3b8e42b"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prayer to Our Lady of Lanka for Our Country</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">O most loving and tender Mother, Queen and Patroness of Sri Lanka, we humbly ask you to look upon us your children in our hour of need. Dearest Mother, you have come to our rescue even in times of peril from war and destruction.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In your never failing love for us we earnestly ask you to dispel from our midst all forms of violence and hatred. Help us to build in our land God’s kingdom of justice and love.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Knowing your abiding love and concern for us, dear Mother, we entrust to your loving care and guidance all races and people of our country. Help us to bring about brotherhood, peace and unity in our society. Guide the destinies of our nation and obtain for us lasting peace, so that all of us may live as brothers and sisters of one family. Amen.</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SRI LANKA</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Lucida Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PAPAL ANTHEM</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Long live the Pope, his praises sound </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again and yet again</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His rule is over space, and time</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His throne the hearts of men.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All hail, the shepherd king of Rome,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The theme of loving song.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let all the earth his glory sing</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And heaven the strain prolong.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PORTUGUESE PERIOD (1505 -</span></p><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: -5.75pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="576"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ancient Taprobane</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the very first stanza of Portugal's celebrated national epic </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Os Lusiadas</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Luis Vaz de Camoens</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> there is reference to a </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taprobana</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the island the subcontinent of India has at its southern tip, like a pendant, a pear-shaped island of 25,.000 square miles, separated from the mainland by a thirty-mile stretch of sea, an island that has an ancient history and civilization and has been the home of prehistoric man from the Paleolithic age.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The island was known to the people of India as Lanka, to the Greeks and Romans as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taprobana</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to the Arabs as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Serendib</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. to the Portuguese as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ceilão</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to the British as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ceylon</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and is known today as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sri Lanka</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lanka prior to the Colonial Period</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In historic times several settlements of Aryan immigrants from North India, which were eventually unified under a common ruler and spoke a common language of Indo-Aryan origin called Sinhala, came to be known as the Sinhalese and today constitute about three-fourths of the island's population of a little over 16 mil1ion. In the 3rd century B. C. the Sinhalese king and his subjects accepted Buddhism brought by monk-missionaries from India. Buddhism, in its </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Theravãda</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> form, has since remained the dominant religion of the country.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For over a millennium the capital of the Sinhalese kingdom was </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anuradhapura</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the north-central part of the island, but later, owing to invasions from South India, it was successively shifted southwards to such locations as Polonnaruva. Dambadeniya, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yapahuwa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gampola</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kotte</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which was about seven miles inland from </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Colombo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and was the capital when the Portuguese arrived.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Early immigrations from South India brought to the northern parts of the island people of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dravidian</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> stock whose language was Tamil and religion Hinduism. At a later date came Muslims who settled down mainly near seaports for trade purposes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the time of the arrival in early sixteenth century of the first Europeans of the colonial period, the Portuguese, there was in the island a Tamil kingdom in the north, the capital of which was </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nallur</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; and there were to the south of it two Sinhalese kingdoms, one in the central uplands with </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandy</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as its capital, and the other, comprising mainly the southwestern lowlands, which was the largest, richest and most powerful and the ruler of which, residing at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kotte</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, his capital claimed suzerainty over the whole country, and was accordingly called </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">chakravarti</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or emperor, of Lanka.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The presence of a few Christians in the country long before the arrival of the Catholic Portuguese is known from what </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cosmas Indicopleustes</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, of the 6th century, tells us in his book </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Christian Topography</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, namely, that there were some Persian Christians in the island; from the discovery in 1912 among the ruins at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anuradhapura</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of a granite slab with a cross engraved on it; and from the presence of an Indian Christian, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Migãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who served as army commander under Sinhalese rulers in the 5th century. Maybe there were other Christians among Indians who served in the army of Sinhalese rulers. No attempt seems to have been made by these Christians to spread their faith among the local inhabitants. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PORTUGUESE PERIOD (1505 –</span></p><br /><br /><br /><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: -5.75pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="624"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Advent of the Portuguese</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1493 </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pope Alexander VI </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1492-1503) assigned to the Portuguese the evangelization of countries in the East. Under the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Padroado</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> arrangement of joint Church-State action in this regard, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">King Manuel I </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of Portugal (1495-1521) sent the first missionaries (8 Franciscans and 8 secular priests) to India in 1500 by the fleet under the command of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pedro Alvares Cabral</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Five years later, on 15 November 1505. a Portuguese fleet commanded by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lourenço de Almeida</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, son of the Portuguese viceroy in India, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Francisco de Almeida</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, having been driven by a storm to the shores of Lanka, landed in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Colombo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With the leave of the king of Kotte, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharma Parãkramabãhu IX</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1489-1513), Alimeida erected a </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">feitoria</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or trade station in Colombo. There he built also a small chapel where the chaplain of the fleet, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Friar Vicente</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a Franciscan, celebrated Mass, the first Latin Mass on Sri Lankan soil. The chapel was dedicated to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">St Lawrence</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Roman deacon and martyr, Lourenço's name-saint. It was thus that St Lawrence became the chief patron of the city of Colombo.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leaving a few soldiers behind. Lourenço de Almeida returned to India and informed his father of the events connected with the 'discovery' of Sri Lanka. The latter informed King Manuel of Portugal who by letter dated 25 September 1507 intimated to the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pope, Julius II</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1503-1513), that the Portuguese had arrived in the island.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arrival of the Missionaries </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1518, with the permission of the king of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kotte</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vijavabãhu VI </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1513-1521), the Portuguese built a fort in Colombo which brought more Portuguese into the country. They seem to have had also a priest to attend to their spiritual needs. In any case, by about 1530 there were in Colombo two Franciscans and a parish priest </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(vigario)</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by the name of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">João Vaz Monteiro</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. His engraved tombstone was discovered in Colombo in 1836. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1521 the king of Kotte, Vijayabãhu VI. was assassinated by his three sons who then divided the kingdom among themselves, the oldest </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bhuvanekabãhu</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> becoming king of Kotte, the second </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Madduma Bandãra </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">king of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rayigama</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two-Korales</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and the youngest </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mãyãdunnë</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> king of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitawaka</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four Korales</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This unfortunate partition of the kingdom of Kotte gave the Portuguese the opportunity to be more and more involved in the country's politics.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mãyãdunnë aimed at taking the kingdom of Kotte as well, which made its ruler. </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bhuvanekabãhu VII</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, turn to the Portuguese for military aid to defend himself. He in fact sent an embassy to Portugal to ask the king, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John III</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1521-1557), to defend him and his intended successor, his grandson </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharmapãla</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. To render the king of Portugal propitious towards him. Bhuvanekabãhu asked also that Catholic missionaries be sent to his kingdom. Accordingly, towards the end of the year 1543, five Franciscans, sent by John III, with </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Friar João de Villa do Conde</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as their leader, arrived in Kotte. They came with the hope of converting the king and his subjects to the Catholic faith.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Xavier and the martyrs of Mannar</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the meantime </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Francis Xavier </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">had arrived in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (8 May 1542), the first Jesuit priest to come to the East, and in September that year had proceeded to the Fishery Coast in South India to minister to the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paravas</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, about 20,000 of whom had been converted in 1536 but with little instruction. Xavier converted more of the Paravas and also people of another caste in the region, the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karaiyas</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kadaiyas</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1544 the Kadaiyas of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mannar</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, an island by the north-west coast of Sri Lanka, which was part of the kingdom of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jaffna</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, had invited Xavier to come over and baptize them also. Since he was not in a position to come himself, he had sent a fellow-missionary, the Spanish secular priest </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Juan de Lizano</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The latter had baptized about a thousand of the people of Mannar.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The king of Jaffna, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chekarãsa Sëkaran</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sankili</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. fearing this would be a step towards Portuguese occupation of his kingdom, sent his troops to Mannar, who massacred six to seven hundred of the new converts, while the rest fled to the Lankan mainland. In a letter of 27 January 1545 to fellow-Jesuits in Rome, Xavier speaks of the martyrdom of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Manniarites</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and says that though he regrets the action of the king, he is happy that so many had received the crown of martyrdom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Xavier proceeded to Goa and requested the governor, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Martin Alfonso de Sousa,</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to punish the king of Jaffna, not to take revenge from him, but to let him know, and other Asian rulers as well, that they should not deny, their subjects freedom to convert to Catholicism. But as the governor took no steps in this direction Xavier decided to leave India for the time being and go further eastwards.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Church makes slow progress</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Franciscans who had arrived in Kotte (1543) found that the king Bhuvanekabãhu, through fear of alienating his Buddhist subjects, was not willing to become a Christian, nor was he in favour of the conversion of his subjects. The missionaries, however, while ministering to the Portuguese who had settled down at some seaports, made a few conversions among the local inhabitants roundabout and built chapels for them. The seaports mentioned are </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Negombo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Panadura</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kalutara</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maggona</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beruwala</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Galle</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Weligama</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There were also some conversions of princes of the Sinhalese royal family. Prince </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jugo Bandara</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a son of Bhuvanekabãhu by a junior queen, was planning to go to Goa and become a Christian to win Portuguese support to get the throne of Kotte for himself, but when the king came to know of it, he got the prince secretly murdered. About this time a son of the king's sister was baptized at Kotte as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom João</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the first member of the Sinhalese royal family to become a Catholic. He fled to Goa where Xavier too met him. Another prince, Jugo Bandãra"s brother, also went to Goa and became a Christian as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Luls</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Both Dom João and Dom Luis were hoping to be placed on thrones in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese but both died in 1546 in an epidemic of smallpox at Goa.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Bhuvanekabãhu died in 1551, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharmapala</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> succeeded him, but since he was still a minor of about 16 years, his father, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vidiyë Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, became regent. The Portuguese viceroy, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alfonso de Noronha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, hearing of the king's death, came to Sri Lanka in the hope of securing the king's treasure and also to persuade Dharmapãla to become a Catholic. The latter, however, fearing repercussions among his Buddhist subjects, was not willing to change his faith. Noronha got only a part of the treasure and when he left he took with him as a hostage a four-year-old prince, a son of Bhuvanekabãhu by a sister of the queen. Baptized at Goa as Dom João, he was educated at the Jesuit College of St. Paul. In 1557 he went to Portugal, but later returned to Goa where, having married a Portuguese lady, he lived until his death in 1587.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Catholic King on the Sinhalese Throne</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The regent, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vidiyë Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, was hostile to the Portuguese and their faith, though baptized by the Franciscans when once he was in prison. After his death around 1555 </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharmapãla</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> found himself more free on the throne, and allowed the missionaries greater freedom for their evangelistic activities. It is reported that in 1556 several thousands of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karãva</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> community inhabiting the western seaboard were converted by the Franciscans.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emboldened perhaps by the conversion of so many, of his subjects, King Dharmapãla himself became a Catholic towards the end of the year, baptized by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Friar João de Villa do Conde</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and given the name of the reigning Portuguese monarch, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John III</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Thus </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Joã Dharmapãla</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> became the first Catholic king of the Sinhalese royal dynasty. </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jayaweera Bandira</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, ruler of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandy</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, though baptized earlier, did not persevere in the faith.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1557, Dharmapãla, on the unwise suggestion of the Franciscans, took the impolitic step of donating to them, as a Catholic king, the Buddhist temples of his kingdom with their lands and revenues, just as Buddhist kings before him had donated them to the Buddhist clergy. The Franciscans, destroying Buddhist images, converted some of the temples to churches. The Buddhist clergy and laity naturally revolted against this desecration and alienation of their time-honoured and sacred places of worship. Portuguese forces harshly, suppressed the revolts. Many of Dharmapãla's Buddhist subjects went over to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mãyãdunnë's</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> side, who now found himself in a stronger position.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Supported by his militarily, astute son </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rãjasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Mãyadunnë launched his onslaughts against the kingdom of Kotte and its capital. Colombo itself was exposed to the danger of attack. Unable to defend two cities simultaneously, the Portuguese decided to move King Dharmapãla and his court to the fort of Colombo and abandon the city of Kotte which was done in 1565.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A King without a Kingdom</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While Mãyãdunnë overran the kingdom of Kotte, Dharmapãla, now a refugee, remained in the fort of Colombo, a king without a kingdom, far removed from his subjects, and maintained and guarded by the Portuguese. The Franciscans too were confined to the fort. Many of the churches they had built in the kingdom were destroyed by the forces of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitawaka</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">About ten years after being confined to the fort of Colombo. Dharmapãla sent to the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pope, Gregory XIII </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1572-1585), a letter dated 28 January 1574 begging him to persuade the king of Portugal to win back for him his kingdom. The Pope, who received the letter four years later, replied on 1 July, 1578, promising to communicate with the king of Portugal regarding the request. At the same time he urged Dharmapãla to remain faithful to his faith in spite of reverses. The following day itself the Pope wrote to the king of Portugal, but nothing came of it, since, about a month later, 4 August 1578, Portugal's young </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">King Sebastian</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was killed and his army routed by Muslim forces at the battle of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alcazar-Kebir</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Morocco</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dharmapãla continued to remain in the fort of Colombo, and since he had no children and there was no chance of a Catholic succeeding him. he drew up a deed of gift on 12 August 1580 donating his kingdom to the king of Portugal, which was confirmed on 4 November 1583. This too was done on the advice of his Franciscan mentors.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mãyãdunnë of Sitawaka died in 15 81 and his son Rãjasimha succeeded him. The following year Rãjasimha brought the kingdom of Kandy too under his rule. He also laid siege to Colombo (1587-1588) but the Portuguese succeeded in saving it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1592 the Kandyans successfully revolted against Rãjasimha. He died the following year. After him there was no one in the Sitawaka royal family to lead the fight against the Portuguese. The latter took prisoner a 12-year-old prince of Sitawaka. </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nikapitiyë</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and placed him in the Franciscan college of St Anthony in Colombo where he was baptized as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Filipe </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and given an education.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kotte under Portuguese Rule</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The kingdom of Kotte was now under Portuguese control. The king Dharmapãla, was old and ailing. When he died in 1597, his kingdom, by virtue of his deed of gift, passed to the Portuguese crown, and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Philip II of Spain </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Philip I of Portugal</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) became its ruler, since from 1580 Portugal had come under Spanish domination (and would continue so till 1640). </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Jeronimo de Azevedo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who had been captain-general in Lanka since 1594 now became the local ruler of the kingdom of Kotte.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under Portuguese rule there was freedom and opportunity for the missionaries to carry on their work. So far, Franciscans, who had first arrived in 1543, had been the chief pastors in the kingdom along with a few secular priests. Since the erection of the diocese of Cochin in 1558 Lanka had been part of it. The Bishop of Cochin now was </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">André de Santa Maria</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, himself a Franciscan. In the new situation he saw the need to have in Sri Lanka missionaries of other religious orders as well. The Franciscans went on to claim that the kingdom had been exclusively entrusted to them by the king of Portugal. The bishop, however, went ahead with his plan and members of other orders too arrived in the island, the Jesuits in 1602, the Dominicans in 1605, and the Augustinians in 1606. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To prevent conflict, each order was assigned a particular region for missionary work, the Jesuits the part of the kingdom to the north of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oya</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, that is, the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Seven</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Korales</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the Franciscans the western seaboard to the south of the river, the Augustinians the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four-Korales</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and the Dominicans the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sabaragamuwa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ratnapura</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) region and the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two-Korales</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Each order had a house in Colombo.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attempts to Reduce Jaffna</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We saw that after the new converts of Mannar, were massacred, Xavier requested the Portuguese governor in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to take steps to punish the king, as a lesson to him and other Asian rulers that they should not deny religious freedom to their subjects. But a move in this direction was made only, 15 years later, in 1560, that is, eight years after Xavier's death (1552).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The viceroy, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Constantino de Braganza</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, led an expedition to Jaffna, but it ended in failure. He thereupon captured the island of Mannar and built a fort there, hoping to take Jaffna later. The Portuguese brought from the Fishery Coast some of the Catholics there to settle down in Mannar. With them came also some of their Jesuit pastors, among them the Tamil scholar </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Henry Henriques</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Two hospitals were built on the island, one for the soldiers, the other for the common people. There were also Franciscans and Dominicans working in Mannar. But since some of the immigrants from the Fishery Coast went back later owing to disease on the island, its Catholic population dwindled.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1591, about 30 years after Braganza's failed attempt to subdue Jaffna, a Portuguese force under the command of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">André Furtado de Mendonça</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, captured Jaffna, killed the reigning </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">kinq Puvirãja Pandãram</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1582-1591), on the ground that he was hostile to the Portuguese, and set on the throne a prince who was prepared to reign as a vassal of Portugal. He was </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Edirimãnasingam</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pararãsa Sëkaran</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During his reign the Franciscans were able to be engaged in missionary activity. A church they built near the king's palace at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nallur</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the capital, was later transferred to Jaffna and became their main church in the kingdom and a popular shrine, the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Church of Our Lady of Miracles</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jaffna under Portuguese Rule</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pararãsa Sëkaran</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> died in 1615, his seven-year-old son succeeded him. The late king's brother, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arsa Kësari,</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> became regent, but another prince, known as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sankili</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, slew him and took his place. It came to the ears of the Portuguese that he was conspiring with the Dutch to get them out. The captain-general in Colombo, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Constantino de Sa de Noronha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, dispatched a force to Jaffna under the command of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Philip de Oliveyra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Sankili was taken prisoner. The young king and his two sisters and other members of the royal family were dispatched to Colombo and the kingdom of Jaffna was brought under direct Portuguese rule. Sankili was sent to Goa where he was tried and executed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On 18 June 1623 Pararãsa Sëkaran's son and daughters, his queen and other members of the Jaffna royal family were solemnly baptized at the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Franciscan church of St Anthony</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in Colombo. The prince was given the name </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Constantino</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, after his godfather, the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">captain-general Constantino de Sa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and the princesses were named </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dona Maria</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dona Izabel</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The three of them were later sent to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where the prince became a Franciscan as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Constantino de Cristo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and held various posts in the order. The two princesses became nuns at the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Augustinian Convent of St Monica</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at Goa, the first Sri Lankans to become nuns. Dona Izabel died in her youth (1645) while Dona Maria lived to an advanced age and on 1 January 1682 was elected prioress of her convent. She died on 9 April the same year.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1619 the Bishop of Cochin entrusted missionary work in the kingdom of Jaffna to the Franciscans. However, seeing that now there was greater opportunity for evangelistic activity in the kingdom, he turned to the Jesuits too for help. They came in 1622 from the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Malabar</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Province in India. Franciscans were assigned the coastal regions, and the Jesuits the inland parts of the kingdom. The Dominicans too came to Jaffna. They had a residence and church in the fort of Jaffna and their services were given also to a church about three miles from the fort.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Portuguese relations with Kandy</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Four decades after the arrival of the Portuguese in the island, the ruler of the upland kingdom of Kandy, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jayaweera Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, turned to them for help, like </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bhuvanekabãhu</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of Kotte, fearing an attack by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mãyãdunnë</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitawaka</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but, unlike Bhuvanekabãhu, he accepted baptism to please the Portuguese. He was baptized as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Manoel</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by the Franciscan, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Francisco de Monteprandone</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in the night of 9 March 1546. Trindade tells us that two Franciscans stayed on in Kandy, and in the following year (1547) erected in Kandy a chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. But when danger from Sitawaka receded, Jayaweera Bandãra's Christianity also evanesced. His conversion does not appear to have been sincere.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was succeeded by his son </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karalliyaddë Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. To protect him from Sitawaka, the Portuguese sent to Kandy a force of 300. It appears that the Franciscan, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Friar Paschoal</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who accompanied the troops, baptized the king, as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom João</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and also members of the royal family and some citizens.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mãyadunnë died in 1581 and was succeeded by his son </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rãjasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The following year Rãjasimha took Kandy. Karalliyaddë Bandãra fled with the members of the royal family and some Portuguese. At </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trincomalee</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> he, his queen and several others of the royal family died of smallpox, leaving behind a princess about a year old and a nephew </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yamasimba</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who was 19.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The princess was taken to Mannar by the Portuguese and entrusted to the care of a Portuguese, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gabriel Colaço</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and his wife </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catarina de Abreu</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. She was baptized as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dona Catarina</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and brought up as a Catholic. Yamasimha was sent to Goa and baptized as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Filipe</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. He had a son by the name of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom João</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandy Regains Independence</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1892 the Kandyans succeeded in overthrowing Rãjasimha of Sitawaka. He died the following year. The Portuguese placed Yamasimha on the throne of Kandy, and sent for his support a </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">lascarin</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> force under the command of a Sinhalese, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Konappu Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The latter was one who had fled to the Portuguese in Colombo when his father, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Virasundara</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a Kandyan chieftain, was put to death by Rãasimha of Sitawaka on taking Kandy. Sent to Goa by the Portuguese, Konappu Bandãra had become a Christian there as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom João D'Austria</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Now he was back in Kandy, sent there by the Portuguese.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before the lapse of a year, King Yamasimha died, suspected of being poisoned by Konappu Bandãra. The Portuguese acclaimed Yamasimha's 12-year-old son, Dom João as king of Kandy, but Konappu Bandãra overthrew him, proclaimed himself king as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vimaladharmasurya</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, attacked and dispersed the Portuguese, who were in Kandy, and began championing Buddhism. The Portuguese brought from Mannar princess </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dona Catarina</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and tried to place her on the throne, but Konappu Bandãra defeated them at the battle of Danturë on 9 October 1594, and taking Dona Catarina prisoner made her his queen, thus securing a royal link to the throne. Of the missionaries who had gone to Kandy, four Franciscans were killed and two others and a Jesuit taken prisoner.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Vimaladharmasurya died (1605), a cousin of his, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Senarat Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, became king, himself marrying Dona Catarina. In 1617 he signed a peace treaty with the Portuguese, one of the conditions of which was that there should be a Franciscan in Kandy as hostage. The king made use of him to educate his children.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After Senarat's death (1635), one of his sons, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rãjasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, became king. With the help of the Dutch he managed to get the Portuguese out of the country. Their forts were taken one after the other and finally Colombo capitulated to the Dutch in 1656 and Jaffna in 1658, and with that Portuguese rule in Lanka came to an end. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandyan Prince-Priest</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prince </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom João</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of Kandv, after being dethroned by Konappu Bandãra, was taken by the Portuguese to Mannar and then brought to Colombo where he was educated at the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Franciscan</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">College of St Anthony</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, along with prince </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nikapitiyë Bandãra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitawaka</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Later both of them were sent to the F</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ranciscan College of the Magi </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bardes</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, where they continued their studies for fifteen years. Then, on the orders of the king they were sent to Portugal, having been ordained subdeacons, and were to continue their studies in the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">University of Coimbra</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Prince Nikapitiyë went to Coimbra, but before commencing studies died at the Franciscan monastery there.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prince Dom João preferred to remain in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lisbon</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Ordained priest, he settled down at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Telheiras</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, in the suburbs of Lisbon, where he built a church and near it a convent for the Franciscans as a token of gratitude to them for all they had done for him. Receiving an allowance from the king, he lived there until his death in 1642 at the age of 64. The church fell into ruins in the Lisbon earthquake of 1 August 1755.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Missionary Activity under Portuguese rule</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although the missionaries had little chance to take the Gospel to the kingdom of Kandy, they had much opportunity for missionary work in the kingdoms of Kotte and Jaffna, especially after they came under direct Portuguese rule. They made conversions, never by force, but sometimes by the offer of favours and privileges; they built churches and schools for the converts and established parishes; they lived in the parishes. close to the people, unlike the Calvinist ministers of the following period (Dutch period) who lived in towns and only occasionally visited the people; they learnt the languages of the country, some only a smattering of it for their practical needs, but a few in depth and wrote books, like the Franciscan missionary of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Matara</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Antonio Peixoto</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who wrote and staged religious plays in Sinhala, the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesuit Matthew Pelingotti</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who translated several religious works into Sinhala, the Colombo-born </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesuit Emmanuel de Costa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who wrote a Sinhala grammar in Latin and the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesuit Pierre Berguin</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who wrote one in Portuguese. The famed </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Italian Jesuit Robert de Nobili</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is known to have been engaged in writing religious books especially for children when he was in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jaffna</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1645-1648) to recuperate his health.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of the Sinhala writings of European missionaries of the Portuguese period, none has come down to our times. A copy of Pierre Berguin's Sinhala grammar in Portuguese had been there in the library of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">University of Jena</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Germany</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but when I inquired about it in 1955, I was informed that with other documents and books it had been destroyed in an Allied air-raid in February 1945 during the last World War. A copy of a Tamil grammar by the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesuit Henrv Henriques</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (who was in Mannar one time) was found in the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Biblioteca Nacional </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Lisbon.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We learn from </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trindade</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that by 1628 the Franciscans had in the territory assigned to them in the kingdom of Kotte 54 churches. He gives the list, mentioning the location of each church, the patron-saint of each, and the number of Catholics that belonged to each (translation, pp. 137-150). Similarly in the kingdom of Jaffna and the adjacent islands the Franciscans had by 1634, 25 churches (</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ibid. 239-242</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Jesuit report of 1644 tells us that they had in their territory in the kingdom of Kotte 7 residences and 3 more in Franciscan territory. The church or churches served by the priest or priests of each residence, the patron saint of each church, the number of Catholics that belonged to each church, and the number of children attending religious instruction are also given. Similarly the Jesuits had 12 residences in the kingdom of Jaffna (</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perniola</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Portuguese period</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, vol. 3,pp. 310-314). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Augustinians who were assigned the Four-Korales had 13 churches. A list is given by them of the location of each church, the name of the priest who founded it, its patron-saint, and the number of Catholics that belonged to it (</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ibid</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. pp. 91-95).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We do not have much information about the Dominicans. We are told they looked after 12 churches in the territory entrusted to them. Besides their church in Colombo, there was another church outside the city, dedicated to St Sebastian, which they served. In Galle too they had a church and another somewhat inland.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the Portuguese period there were three churches in the country which became popular shrines and places of pilgrimage, all of them shrines of Our Lady: In the Kingdom of Kotte were the shrines of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Lady of Mondanale</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the location of which has not been identified, and the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Augustinian church of Our Lady of Deliverance (Livramento)</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which was at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Narahenpita</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. What is still left of the well of the shrine can be seen in the Catholic section of the Jawatte cemetery. The other shrine was the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Franciscan church of Our Lady of Miracles</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in Jaffna fort. We are told that pilgrims came there even from India. The Augustinian church at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attanagalla</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was dedicated to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Lady of the Sinhalese</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is a significant fact of identification of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Lady with the indigenous people</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, although the church did not become a shrine as such.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Education too was in the hands of the missionaries. The Jesuits had a college in Colombo for primary and secondary education, that is, for the teaching of Portuguese and Latin and their literature. They had another in Jaffna. The Franciscans had their </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">College of St Anthony in Colombo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and another in Jaffna. Christianity, both doctrine and practice, was the main subject taught in these institutions. They resembled the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pirivena</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> colleges of the Buddhist educational system.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From their records we learn that the Jesuits had two types of schools in their rural parishes. One was a catechetical school which all the children old enough to learn the catechism were required to attend. Classes were held in the church, for girls in the morning, for boys in the evening. There was besides an elementary school for boys for secular education mainly for the teaching of the mother tongue and Portuguese. This was more or less like the Pansala school of the Buddhist system. Other religious orders may have had similar schools, though information about them is lacking.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apart from their pastoral work, the missionaries were engaged in charitable activities as well, one of which was the care of the sick. It was in the Portuguese period that Western medicine was introduced into the country. Sometimes the missionaries themselves distributed medicine among the sick. Sometimes they had care of hospitals and served in them. In the Portuguese period there were hospitals, one in each of the forts of Colombo, Galle and Jaffna, and two on the island of Mannar.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A specifically Portuguese charitable institution was the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Misericordia</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, founded in Lisbon in 1498 by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leonora of Lancaster</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, queen of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John II of Portugal</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1481-1495). The </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Misericordia</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of each place had a house and church, and its members, who were laymen were engaged in such activities as visiting the sick in homes, hospitals and prisons, care of orphans, and help to the poor, providing them with food, clothing and shelter. </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Misericordias</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were established in the home country and in the colonies.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Sri Lanka the first </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Misericordia</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was set up in the city of Kotte. Later, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Misericordias</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were erected also in Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Mannar.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thus the Catholic faith was introduced into Sri Lanka with the coming of the Portuguese and in alliance with them. Though such alliance with a political power was beneficial to the Church in certain respects, it was not at all necessary for the purpose of evangelisation. On the other hand, it had results damaging to the country, such as war and bloodshed, harm to the country's traditional religions, and the loss of the political independence of a large part of the country, all of which affected the Church unfavourably.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although during this period there may have been conversions from unworthy motives, it is certain also, from the perseverance of Catholics in spite of persecution in the succeeding period of Dutch rule that many conversions had been genuine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Among the converts was </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alagiyavanna</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the greatest Sinhala poet of the time. Having learnt the Catholic faith from the Jesuits in Colombo, he was baptised as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Jeronimo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the name of his godfather, the Portuguese captain-general in the island, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Jeronimo de Azevedo</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1597-1614). After his conversion he wrote the poem </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kustantinu Hatana</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">which, though a war-ballad, embodies Christian concepts and sentiments and can therefore be regarded as the first Christian poem in Sinhala. Moreover it is the only Sinhala Christian writing of the Portuguese period that has survived.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DUTCH PERIOD (1505 -</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></p><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: -5.75pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="624"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Introduction</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rãjasimha II</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was king of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandy</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1635-1687), the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dutch East India Company</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was active in Indian waters. The king sought the help of the Dutch to get the Portuguese out of the country. The Dutch took the Portuguese fort at </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Batticaloa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1638 and after that several other coastal forts including the strategically important one of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Galle</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which was taken in 1640. With the capitulation of Colombo to the Dutch in 1656 and of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jaffna</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1658, Portuguese rule in Sri Lanka terminated. Rãjasimha was however dismayed when he saw that the Dutch were going to be the new masters of the territories formerly held by the Portuguese, with the exception that the region to the north of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maha Oya</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, would remain part of his kingdom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Dutch feared that Lanka's Catholics might not be loyal to them and might want the Portuguese back. Religion wag a strong link between the Catholics and the Portuguese, The Dutch therefore took measures to stamp out Catholicism from the country. The Catholic faith was proscribed. Catholic churches and schools were confiscated. All Catholic priests were banished from the country. A proclamation was made that anyone harbouring or aiding a priest would be subject even to the capital punishment. Catholics were required to attend services in Dutch kirks and to have their children baptized, their marriages solemnized and their dead buried according to Calvinist rites. The fact that the Dutch took such stringent measures against Catholicism shows that at the end of the Portuguese period the number of Catholics in the island had been considerable. If it had been negligible, they might not have bothered about them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><h5 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Flock without a Shepherd </span></h5><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The heaviest blow to the Catholics was their total deprivation of the ministry of priests. We learn from a contemporary document that there had been over 120 priests in the country at the close of the Portuguese period. But now there was none. This went on for about 30 years. We have no information as to how the Catholics</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">attended to their religious duties during this time. There was no one to perform the priest's function of celebrating Mass, so central to Catholic faith and life.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Had the European missionaries of the Portuguese period trained a native clergy, the latter could have continued to serve the Catholics at least in secret. But this had not been done. The European missionaries had not expected a situation like this and had thought that missionaries could continue to come to the island from Europe.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the Catholics of Sri Lanka were thus reduced to the position of being a flock without shepherds, who came to their rescue? Neither the Archbishop of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who was head of the ecclesiastical province to which Sri Lanka belonged and head of the Church in Portugal's empire in the East; nor the Bishop of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cochin</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who was bishop for Sri Lanka as well and had been so for over a century and a quarter; nor the European missionaries who had worked in Sri Lanka and knew the country well and were now working in India or Europe; nor the Indian priests of the dioceses of Goa and Cochin, some of whom at least would have known of the plight of Lanka's Catholics. None of them took the trouble to see if they could help Sri Lanka in any way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the Holy See came to know of the situation in the island, the solution it saw was to somehow send some European missionaries back into the country. 'Missionary' those days meant the European missionary. It was he who made converts in non Christian lands and took pastoral care of them. European missionaries had therefore to be sent to Sri Lanka. The Pope at the time was</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Innocent XI </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1676-1689). Attempts were made by the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Congregation of Propaganda Fide</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to get the Catholic emperor </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leopold I </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Austria</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the Vicar Apostolic of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Netherlands</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Johannes Neercassel</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to prevail upon the Dutch government to permit at least a handful of European missionaries acceptable to it to go to Sri Lanka to minister to its Catholics. But these attempts were unsuccessful. The government of the Netherlands refused to allow any Catholic missionaries to enter the island.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God sends a Shepherd</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When there was no help from anywhere for Lanka's Catholics, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Divine Providence</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sent them and in a very remarkable manner. God touched the heart of a humble Indian priest and inspired him to dedicate his life to the service of the abandoned Catholics of Sri Lanka. Born on 21 April 1651 into a </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Konkani Brahmin</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> family of Goa, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Joseph Vaz</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was deeply religious from his early days and later as a youth studied for the priesthood and was ordained in 1676 for the Archdiocese of Goa. For about five years (1676-1681) he worked in Goa itself and in 1681 was sent as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vicar Forane</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kanara</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a region to the south of Goa, where he laboured for the next three years (1681-1684).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When he came to know of the situation in Sri Lanka, he was deeply to touched and disturbed. There were so many priests in Goa, both European and native, but not one in that neighbouring country, and nobody seemed to care much about it. Couldn't he go and serve the Catholics there? But Lanka was a country where a persecution raged. especially in the parts where most of the Catholics lived. How could he get into the country?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He got an idea. There were Dutch traders from Colombo and Jaffna who came to Kanara and Goa. Couldn't he be sold as a slave to one of them? Then he will be able to go to Sri Lanka with his master. Fr Vaz therefore begged of a brother-priest, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nicolão de Gamboa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to effect the sale, but the latter was not willing. Fr Vaz then returned to Goa, Fr. Gamboa succeeding him as Vicar Forane of Kanara.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provision for others to follow</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the religious orders that came from Europe to mission countries were originally reluctant to admit indigenous candidates into their ranks, an elderly priest of Goa, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paschoal da Costa Jeremias</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, had made an attempt with three others to live a community life, but it had failed. However, he tried again, with two others. Then a fourth person sought admission. He was Fr. Vaz who had returned from Kanara, He was admitted on 25 September 1685.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr Vaz's decision to join this community is somewhat puzzling. But we see in it God's guidance for the good of Sri Lanka. One wonders why Fr. Vaz, who was so keen on going to Sri Lanka, decided to join a community which could be a hindrance to his project, for he would have to submit to the wishes of his superior and of the community, who might not favour his going to Sri Lanka. Or was he expecting the community to support his work in the island? If so, one is surprised that he had so much hope in a community which still did not have a sure foundation and the future of which was very uncertain.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was soon elected superior of the community. He got the building where they were living repaired. He brought order and fervour into the life of the community, especially by the example of his own fervent religious life. There were others now coming forward to join the group. With the consent of all the members he decided to have the community established as a </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and wrote to the Oratory in Lisbon for the statutes. The Oratory of Goa, thus initiated by Fr Vaz, the first and so far the only Oratory in Asia, became providentially a source of supply of Indian missionaries to Sri Lanka at a time when European missionaries could not enter the island. This went on for over 150 years. Fr Vaz demonstrated to the Church at a time when Europeans were the missionaries, that Asians (Indians) too could become missionaries.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is clear from later events that Fr Vaz had not given up the idea of going to Sri Lanka. Towards the end of the following year (16 8 6), having persuaded </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Paschoal</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to resume the superiorship, he left Goa for a mission tour in Kanara and further south, taking with him two members of the community, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Paul de Souza</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brother Stephen Siqueira</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who were not told about his final destination since secrecy was absolutely necessary in the context of the situation. Having come as far as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tellicherry</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. he informed his companions of his intention to proceed to Sri Lanka, but they were unwilling to face the dangers and hardships of such a venture and turned back, while he, disguised as a coolie, left </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tuticorin</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by boat with </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a domestic employee, with the intention of reaching Jaffna. A storm carried the boat to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mannar</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where he landed (1687) and fell ill, but as soon as he recovered he proceeded by land to Jaffna.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lanka's Sole Pastor</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Vaz revealed himself to the Catholics of Jaffna who were overjoyed to see a priest in their midst after so long. He secretly ministered to them, mostly under cover of darkness, celebrating Mass in their homes, administering the sacraments, and bringing back to the Church those who had given up the practice of the faith or had strayed into the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dutch Reformed Church</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, as had </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Pedro</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a prominent citizen of Jaffna. He thus served the Catholics of Jaffna for about two years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Christmas night 1689 he had arranged to say the midnight Mass in three houses one after the other. The people had gathered in the houses and were praying while they waited for Fr Vaz. Information about the arrangements had been given by someone to the Dutch authorities, and suddenly troops appeared and not finding Fr. Vaz in any of the three places, arrested about 300 of the Catholics, both men and women, and the following morning produced them before the Dutch Commissary in Jaffna, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hendrick Adriaan van Rheede</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who released the women but dealt severely with the men, singling out for harsher punishment as a lesson to others eight of the leading citizens, including Dom Pedro. They were ordered to be flogged and Jailed. Dom Pedro, who had abandoned the Dutch Reformed Church to come back to Catholicism was so severely flogged that he died in jail, the first martyr of the Dutch period.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Vaz managed to escape and made his way to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Puttalam</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> where he met an Indian secular priest, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">João de Braganza</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who had recently come to help him. Leaving him at Puttalam. Fr. Vaz went on a missionary tour of the island (1690) and returned in 1692.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At Puttalam he met one </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Antonio Sottomayor</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandy</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a Portuguese descendant who told him of Christians in the hill country who needed the ministrations of a priest. Fr. Vaz consulted Fr. Braganza about going to Kandy, and when he saw that the latter was keen on going. gave in to his wishes. But Providence willed otherwise. Fr. Braganza fell ill and had even to return to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and Fr. Vaz was again left alone as Lanka's only pastor, and that for the next four years.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Providential Imprisonment</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Vaz left for Kandy in August 1692, and the king of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kandyan kingdom</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vimaladharmasuriya II</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1 (1687-1707) being misinformed that he was a spy of the Portuguese, ordered his imprisonment which, though rigorous at first, was relaxed when the king saw that he was no spy but a deeply religious man and an ascetic and his only concern was to minister to the Catholics, who were therefore permitted to visit him.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It will be remembered that </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Paschoal da Costa Jeremias </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">assumed the duties of superior of the Goan community when Fr. Vaz left for Sri Lanka. But </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Paschoal </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">died the following year (1687), and was succeeded by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Custodio Leitão</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. On hearing of this, Fr. Vaz wrote to his new superior on 15 August 1690 to ask him whether he should continue in Sri Lanka or return to Goa. This is because he was very particular in doing the will of his superiors which he regarded as a manifestation of God's will. He wished to know his new superior's will regarding his future.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As stated above, in 1692 Fr. Vaz went to Kandy where he was imprisoned. When in Kandy, he received a letter from his superior with instructions to return to Goa. Had he not been a prisoner, he certainly would have gone back, and what a loss it would have been to Sri Lanka! The imprisonment providentially prevented his return.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1696 there occurred a severe drought in the Kandyan regions and there was also the danger of famine. Various traditional religious rites were performed with a view to obtaining rain, but still there was no rain. Some Catholics at the court, suggested to the king to ask Fr Vaz too to pray to his god for rain which the latter accepted to do. He set up a small altar in a public square of the city, placed a crucifix on it, and while a crowd watched, knelt before it and began to pray. Before long rain clouds covered the sky and there was a heavy downfall of rain, though not a drop fell on the spot where Fr Vaz remained kneeling. All this is recorded in a report of the time, now at the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bilblioteca da Ajuda</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lisbon</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we see in contemporary records a marked change of attitude towards Fr Vaz on the part of the king and the people after this event which appears to confirm the fact that there had been a 'miraculous' shower of rain. The king permitted Fr Vaz to travel freely for the purpose of his ministry to the Catholics.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the same year (1696) the Bishop of Cochin, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dom Pedro Pacheco</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, appointed Fr. Vaz as his Vicar General for Sri lanka with all the powers he needed for the administration of the Church in the country. Also his first priestly collaborators, after the departure of Fr. Braganza in 1692, arrived in the island this year, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frs Joseph de Menezes </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Joseph Carvalho</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from the Oratory, and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Pedro Ferrão,</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a secular priest.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the following year (1697) smallpox broke out in Kandy. The traditional preventive measure to escape the dread disease was flight, leaving behind even one's close relatives who had fallen victims. This happened this time too, but Fr Vaz, with his companion Fr Carvalho, went round visiting the victims, nursing and feeding them, and burying the dead. He could have caught the disease himself, but he didn't. What he did during the epidemic was in the eyes of the king and his people another 'miracle', a miracle of charity. It is reported that Fr Vaz's charity on this occasion brought in quite a number of conversions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catholic Literature in the National Languages</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we saw earlier, some of the European missionaries of the Portuguese period mastered the national languages and wrote books for religious instruction. But these do not seem to have survived up to the time of Fr. Vaz's arrival in Sri Lanka. He saw the need therefore of getting books written in Sinhala and Tamil for adult catechesis. He had learnt both the languages well and insisted that his fellow-missionaries should do the same. But writing needed special talent. Who was going to do it? Fortunately, among the four missionaries who arrived in Sri Lanka in 1705 there was one, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Jacome Gonsalves</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who possessed not only a brilliant mind but also linguistic and literary talent.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Gonsalves first worked in Jaffna after his arrival in the island and learnt Tamil. Fr Vaz next summoned him to Kandy and gave him the opportunity to learn Sinhala, which he assiduously did with the help of some </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bhikkhus</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pedro Gaskon</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the king's first adigar, noted for his knowledge of Sinhala and skill as a folk poet. Having acquired proficiency in Sinhala as well Fr. Gonsalves began to write, in the midst of his other labours and even when later he was Vicar General and Superior (1730-1742).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He wrote in both Sinhala and Tamil, in prose and verse, in the literary language as well as in the language of the common man; his works reveal his wide knowledge of the vocabulary of the two languages; he wrote on a variety of themes pertaining to Catholic faith and practice, so that he produced almost a small library of Catholic literature for the need of the time, he got copies of his books made for distribution among the people.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was happy to discover in 1955 at the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Biblioteca da Ajuda</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in Lisbon a manuscript copy of the writings of Gonsalves in Sinhala and Tamil, except the dictionaries he had composed. The Sinhala works run to 1094 folios with writing on both sides, hence 2188 pages. This is the most complete manuscript copy of his writings so far available. I have been able to obtain from the Ajuda a photocopy of this manuscript collection, the Franciscans in Holland meeting the expenses.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gonsalves' writings are important not only as religious and spiritual literature but also for their literary and linguistic value. He was a master in the use of the simile to elucidate his thought. In fact, in the history of Sinhala literature he appears to be the most outstanding writer in the use of the simile. Thus Fr. Gonsalves very creditably and creatively fulfilled the wishes of his superior, Fr Vaz, in providing Lanka's Catholics with a Catholic literature in the national languages. What he did for Lanka's Catholics is similar to the contribution made to Buddhist literature by the Indian Buddhist monk </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buddhaghosa</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who was in Sri Lanka in the fifth century A. D.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During Fr Vaz's lifetime, the number of missionaries, all of them Indians, who came to serve in the island rose to about a dozen. He assigned to each one a part of the country for pastoral work. Since the kings of Kandy. both </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vimaladharmasuriya II </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1687 - 1707) and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sri Vira Narendrasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1707-173 9), were friendly to him and his brother-missionaries, Fr Vaz made Kandy his headquarters and from there went from time to time on missionary tours throughout the country, to visit, guide and encourage the other missionaries and to meet the people. Up to his death in 1711, he served the Church in Sri Lanka not only as its chief administrator (Superior and Vicar General), but also as a model, inspiration and guide to both priests and the people. He revitalized the faith of the people and built it on surer foundations.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Holy See had now come to know of Fr Vaz's work in the island. When </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pope Clement XI</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1700-1721 sent Archbishop </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charles Maillard de Tournon</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as his special legate to India and China to look into complaints against some missionary methods, he instructed him to inquire also about Fr Vaz and his work in Sri Lanka, for, whereas the attempts of the Holy See to help Sri Lanka by sending missionaries from Europe had failed, he had succeeded. When the legate reached </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pondicherry</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1703 he collected information from persons who had known Fr Vaz. especially from some Jaffna Catholics who had come there to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. On 26 August 1704 he dispatched a report to Rome with the highest praise for Fr Vaz. Moreover, he made known to Fr Vaz that he would wish to appoint him a bishop, but the latter declined, no doubt fearing that the appointment of a bishop directly by Rome might irritate Portugal, which in retaliation might prevent Goan priests from coming to Sri Lanka, which would disastrously, affect the Church in the island.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Fr. Vaz did for Sri Lanka in coming to its rescue and saving the faith of its Catholics at a time of persecution and when there was no help forthcoming from any quarter is unique in mission history. But there are also other important ecclesial aspects of his life and work. He has lessons for the universal Church.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Asian Missionary par Excellence</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though Christianity, like the other world religions (</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) had its birth in Asia and its early missionaries were Asians. it initially moved westwards and spread extensively in Europe, which consequently became deeply Christianised in the course of over a millennium, while all that time Asia remained almost entirely, non-Christian especially when, after the rise of Islam, the Christian communities of south-west Asia were wiped out. Christianity also influenced the culture of European nations and in the process was itself influenced by European culture.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was with the colonial expansion of European nations, which commenced in the late 15th century, that the evangelization of Asian, African and American peoples was undertaken by missionaries from Europe, which went on continuously up to the 20th century.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we have seen, it was by European missionaries that the Catholic faith was brought to Sri Lanka in the Portuguese period. In the Dutch period, European Catholic missionaries could not come into the island because of the persecution. In the British period, after religious freedom was restored to Catholics, they came back again. In the crucial period of persecution, when the attempts of the Holy See to send some European missionaries had failed and there seemed no hope of helping Lanka's Catholics, it was an Asian, an Indian, Fr Joseph Vaz, who came to the rescue of the Church in the Island.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By his life and work Fr Vaz demonstrated to the Church of the time that in newly Christianized lands, sons of the soil themselves were fit enough and ready enough to undertake even so arduous a task as serving a persecuted Church, which called for heroism and sacrifice. Though his activity was confined to Sri Lanka, Fr Vaz had a message for the whole Church. His missionary undertaking became an object-lesson to the Church. He showed what the native clergy were capable of. He showed that the Church should therefore have greater confidence in them. He became God's chosen instrument to bring to the Church the realization of the need and worth of the native clergy in the great task of the evangelization of peoples. In Lanka itself in the Portuguese period the European missionaries had made the great mistake of not training a native clergy. It was an Asian, Fr Vaz, who, on his own initiative, took steps to make up for it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indigenous Ministers of Salvation</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The European missionaries of the colonial period were mostly members of religious orders founded in Europe, like the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Franciscans</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dominicans</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesuits</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Augustinians</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, though they were not orders specifically founded for missionary work. In later centuries, other orders or institutes were founded in Europe expressly for evangelistic activity, such as the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paris Foreign Mission Society</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mill Hill Fathers </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Verona Fathers</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. But as early as the 17th century we have in Asia, at Goa, a missionary institute, founded by an Asian, for Asian recruits, to do mission work in an Asian country. It is Fr Vaz's Oratory. Though founded as an </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oratory of St Philip Neri</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, it deviated from the character of ordinary Oratories by its missionary dimension.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ecclesially it is important to note that at a time when missionaries were Europeans coming from European religious orders, here was an Asian institute supplying missionaries exclusively Indian, to an Asian country, which went on for over a century and a half. This is something unique in mission history and Church history.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is relevant to mention that in the early, part of the same century (17th), another Indian and Goan like Fr Vaz, who became Vicar Apostolic of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bijapur</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 1637, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bishop Matthew de Castro</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, attempted to establish an Indian religious community, but it became a failure. If the Oratory of Goa succeeded, it was largely because of Fr Vaz, whose heroic and apostolic work in Sri Lanka became an inspiration to other Indians and brought in recruits.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By his own labours and the labours of the members of the institute he founded, Fr Vaz proved to the Church that the indigenous clergy, were capable of serving the Church as competently as the European clergy, that they could not only be pastors to their own people but also go out to other lands as missionaries. He showed already in his day the aptness of what Pope Leo XIII (1878 - 1903) said two centuries later in establishing the Papal Seminary in Kandy that </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Filii tui,</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">India, administri tibi</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">salutis </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Your sons, O India, shall be the ministers of your salvation).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the subject of the training of native clergy in mission lands, Fr Vaz became also an inspiration to </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mrs. Bigard </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and her daughter </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jeanne</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who founded about a century ago the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pontifical Society of St Peter the Apostle</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for the support of indigenous priestly vocations. Mrs Bigard was so enthralled by the story of the heroic and unique apostolate of Fr Vaz that she, obtained a copy of an Italian version of his life, translated it into French and published it in </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caen</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The pastoral service rendered by Fr Vaz and his brother-missionaries to Sri Lanka in very trying circumstances proved to the Bigards the legitimacy of the cause they had espoused, and encouraged them to go ahead in spite of the difficulties they had to encounter.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indigenous Administrators of Local Churches</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the days of Fr Vaz and for long afterwards, not only were the missionaries Europeans but also European missionaries themselves were appointed to high administrative positions such as that of bishop or vicar apostolic of the newly established Christian communities. It was only in the present century, in 1911, that for the first time a Sri Lankan was appointed a bishop in Sri Lanka, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bishop Bede Beekmeyer</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of Kandy. The question of the appointment of a bishop for Sri Lanka was looked into by Propaganda in 1648, in the Portuguese period, but was postponed. Had a bishop been appointed then, he, would have been a European missionary. Had there been no persecution in Sri Lanka in the Dutch period, it is again most likely that, if a bishop was appointed, a European missionary would have been chosen for the post.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After Fr Vaz had been in the island for about ten years, the Bishop of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cochin</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to whose diocese Sri Lanka had been attached since 1558, appointed him, by letter dated 10 February 1696, his Vicar General for the whole island with all the powers he needed to administer the Church. Though not a bishop, Fr Vaz, an Asian, became head of the Church in an entire Asian country with all the missionaries working with him being also exclusively Asian. The Church in Lanka thus became totally Asian, which was something unusual at the time.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This situation of Indian clergy of the Oratory founded by Fr Vaz serving the Church in Sri Lanka with one of them as Vicar General of the Bishop of Cochin, continued for 142 years until in 1838 </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vicente do Rosayro</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, one of the Indian Oratorians in the country, was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Sri Lanka. The next Vicar Apostolic, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caetano Antonio</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, was also an Indian Oratorian, but was succeeded thereafter by European bishops until recent times.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In successfully administering the Church in difficult times, Fr Vaz and those who succeeded him proved to the Church that in mission lands too sons of the soil were as capable as their European counterparts in holding positions of responsibility in the Church. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apolitical Missionary Action</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have seen that in the colonial period the Church turned to Spain and Portugal for help in spreading the faith, conferring on them the status of 'patron' of the Church in the missions, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patronato </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Spanish and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Padroado </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Portuguese. This brought the political factor into the relations between the Church and these nations on the one hand, and between these nations and the non-Christian nations on the other. Although this alliance of Church and State had certain advantages for the Church there were also disadvantages. What was expected to be productive for the Church became also counter-productive.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Sri Lanka itself, the involvement of the Portuguese in the political affairs of the country, the wars they fought against the Sri Lankans, the bloodshed and destruction they caused, their cruelty and terrorism when reduced to desperation, the exploitation of the people, the deprivation of a large part of the country of its political independence and the scandalous life of some of the Portuguese, all these affected the Church on account of its close association with the state. The inhabitants of the country who hated the foreigner for his aggression and misdeeds also regarded with disfavour the religion he ostentatiously professed and sought to propagate.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr Vaz had seen in Goa itself the weaknesses and blunders of the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Padroado </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">system. He came to Sri Lanka, not sent by the </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Padroado </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">authorities but impelled solely by the desire of ministering to a persecuted and abandoned Church. He had no political alliance, interests or intentions. He had no military forces to protect and support him. He came to serve under local rulers, not to reduce them to subjection to a foreign power for the purpose of Christianization of the people. He came, not as a quasi-emissary of a foreign power, but only as a servant of God and of the Church. He came in utter simplicity and humility without the trappings of ecclesiastical or civil display of power.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The kings of Kandy and their subjects had therefore no reason to fear him, for he was only a humble ascetic and a religious </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">guru</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and totally apolitical unlike the missionaries of the previous regime. No wonder he was respected and revered by both the rulers and the people.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Respect for other Faiths</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the previous regime the attitude to non-Christians had been oppressive and destructive, since it was thought that, as non-Christian religions were in error, they had no right to exist, a concept of the tune. We saw how Buddhist temples and their lands and revenues were given over to the Franciscans; how some temples were converted to churches; and how some were pillaged and plundered by the Portuguese forces.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr Vaz had almost a post-Vatican II attitude towards the adherents of other faiths. Although he desired their conversion, he followed a policy of tolerance, co-existence and friendliness. For instance, when nursing the sick during the smallpox epidemic in Kandy or distributing alms to the poor, he treated both Christians and non-Christians alike. He sought conversion, not by the annihilation of non-Christian religions, or by the offer of favours and privileges to converts, but rather by his self-sacrificing charity, service to fellowmen, and the example of his saintly life. Thus by his life and work he demonstrated to the Church of his time another approach to the non-Christian different from that followed by the Church in alliance with the state, when conversion, as happened in Mannar, made the local rulers suspect that it was a preliminary step towards foreign domination of the country.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this way Fr Vaz not only rendered a unique service to the Church in Sri Lanka by coming to its rescue at a time of persecution when there were no priests at all in the country, and by founding an Indian institute to carry on the work after him, but by his lifestyle and methods of evangelisation pointed out to the Church that there could be other methods of approach to the non-Christian, methods more peaceable and effective than those followed by the Church at the time. In the history of the Church and of the missions, Fr Vaz thus stands out as an ecclesially important figure.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Continuity of Service of the Indian Missionaries</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Fr Vaz died in 1711, he was succeeded as Vicar General and Superior by </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr Joseph de Menezes</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, one of the earliest to come to Sri Lanka after Fr Vaz. This arrangement of one of the Indian Oratorians in Sri Lanka being Vicar General of the Bishop of Cochin continued until in 1834 (in the British period) Sri Lanka was detached from Cochin and constituted as a Vicariate Apostolic and in 1836 the then Vicar General </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr Vicente do Rosayro</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, was appointed as Vicar Apostolic.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During this period of 123 years, that is, from Fr Vazs's death (1711) up to the setting up of the Vicariate Apostolic of Sri Lanka (1834), and for another 8 Years, that is, till the first European missionary was sent by Propaganda (1842), the Church in Sri Lanka was served by Indian missionaries from the Oratory of Goa. The number of missionaries varied from 10, towards the end of Fr Vaz's life, to 18, the highest reached. From 1737 the number was around 16. It will be seen that this was still a very small number compared with the number of European missionaries in the island in the latter part of the Portuguese period.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It has to be mentioned, moreover, that the original fervor, dedication, spirit of sacrifice, heroism and asceticism of the early missionaries who had known Fr Vaz, imbibed his spirit, and followed in his footsteps, waned as the years passed by, especially after the Dutch relaxed their hold on the Catholics in the last three decades of their rule. One sees in the letters and reports of some of the European missionaries of the early British period criticisms of the lifestyle and work of the Indian Oratorians of their time. Although there is some exaggeration in these criticisms, it is nonetheless true that the later Indian missionaries had drifted away from the ideals and apostolic spirit of Fr Vaz and his fellow missionaries of the early days.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, the Church in Sri Lanka has to be grateful to these Indian missionaries for keeping the faith alive in the Island in spite of the lapses of some of them. Towards the end of the Dutch period a few European priests who had probably come as chaplains to mercenary troops employed by the Dutch had stayed on and worked in the island, but otherwise from the time Fr Vaz came alone to Sri Lanka (1687) until the arrival of the first European missionaries in the British period (1842), that is, during a period of 155 years, the Church in the island was served by Indian missionaries, a unique episode in the history of the missions and of the Church.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr><tr style="height: 332.55pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Catholic Priests Banished from Kandy</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the period, of, over a century of Indian missionary activity after Fr Vaz's death, there were two noteworthy events. Although the Buddhist kings of Kandy, Vimaladharmasurya II and Narendrasimha, were friendly to Fr Vaz and his brother-missionaries there were also some sections of the Buddhists and </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bhikkhus, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">did not view with favour the kings' benevolent attitude towards the Catholics and their priests. This became more pronounced when Fr Vaz was no more.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr Gonsalves</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> himself was nearly being executed on the orders of King </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Narendrasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And this, surprisingly, by a king who, on account of a rumour that Fr. Vaz' s body had been secretly removed to Goa, wanted the tomb to be opened in the presence of his ministers to be sure that it was there, because of his great regard and veneration for Fr Vaz. Among the books written by Fr Gonsalves was one on Buddhism which angered some of the Buddhists. They complained to the king and demanded that the author be punished. Not long after, Fr Gonsalves was falsely accused of hiding the treasure of </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pedro de Gaskon</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the first </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">adigar</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, whom the king had executed, and who had been very friendly with the priest. The king ordered his ministers to interrogate Fr Gonsalves, and when the evidence though false, of his accusers was conveyed to the king he ordered him to be tortured and beheaded. But when the king was told that Fr Gonsalves had welcomed with joy the opportunity for martyrdom, he was so touched that he ordered his release.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Narendrasimha had married a </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nãyakkãr</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> princess from South India, and when he died (1739) without issue, it was the queen's brother who succeeded him as </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sri Vijaya Rãjasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1739-1747), whence arose the Nãyakkãr dynasty of the Sinhalese royal family, to which the next three kings, who were the last, also belonged.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being an alien, Sri Vijaya Rãjasimha needed</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the support of the people to remain on the throne. He needed the support of the Dutch as well. Some of the Buddhists and Buddhist clergy of Kandy on the one hand, and the Dutch authorities on the other, who did not like the presence of Catholic missionaries in Kandy and their evangelising activity, demanded that the king banish them from the hill country. Several priests were arrested and brought before a tribunal in Kandy. In 1746 the king (Sri Vijaya Rãjasimha ordered their banishment from the kingdom. The missionaries found refuge in the Vanni. Kandy that had been a haven for them from the days of Fr Vaz now became forbidden ground as was Dutch territory. This was a trying moment for both the priests and their flock. However, from the Vanni the priests continued to serve secretly the Catholics of both the kingdom of Kandy and the domains of the Dutch.</span></p><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 0pt 5.75pt 0pt 5.75pt; vertical-align: middle;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Dutch Relent</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1762, sixteen years after the banishment of Catholic priests from Kandy, the tide turned in favour of the Catholics in Dutch territory. Strained relations between the then king of Kandy, </span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kirti Sri Rãjasimha</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1747-1780), and the Dutch led to war. The Catholics and their priests in Dutch territory gave their support to the Dutch. There were, besides, Catholics and their chaplains among the European mercenary troops brought in by the Dutch. The war gave the Dutch the opportunity to see that in spite of the religion which linked them to the Portuguese, Lanka's Catholics could be depended upon to support them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although the laws passed against the Catholics remained, the Dutch government now began to be more lenient towards the Catholics. They were allowed to practice their faith unmolested. Priests who had for so long been in hiding and in disguise were now able to go about freely, even wearing their religious dress. Twelve years later, in 1774, the Dutch government in Sri Lanka adopted the practice prevailing in the Netherlands, which was that each priest had to take an oath of allegiance to the Dutch government. Besides, each priest coming to a district for pastoral work had to obtain a permit for it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thus the Dutch period which commenced with a violent persecution of the Catholics, which went on for over a century and brought Fr Vaz and other Indian missionaries to the rescue of Lanka's Church, ended with a good measure of freedom for the Catholics in its last three decades.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="color: navy; font-family: Batang; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Old English Text MT"; font-size: 24pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bishops of Colombo</span><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Old English Text MT"; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Visitors of the College & the Chairmen of the Board of Governors </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. James Chapman </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1845-1861 D.D (First Bishop of Colombo installed in the presiding seat) </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Piers Calverly Claughton </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1862-1871 D.D.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Hugh Willoughby Jermyn </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1872- 1875 D.D. (Later Primus of Scotland) </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Reginald Stephen Copleston </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1876-1902 D.D. (Translated to Calcutta as Metropolitan) </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Ernest Arthur Copleston </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1903-1924 D.D.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Dr. Mark Rudolph Carpenter-Garnier </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">D.D. 1924-1938 </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Dr. Cecil Douglas Horsely </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">M.A. D.D. 1938-1947 </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Dr. Archibald Rollo Graham Campbell </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">D.D. 1948-1964 </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Charles Harold Wilfred de Soysa </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">M.A. 1964-1971 (First Ceylonese Bishop of Colombo) </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Cyril Lindon Abeynaike </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">M.A. 1971-1977 </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Swithin Winston Fernando </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1978-1987 </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Jabez Jabasir Gnanapragasam </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">B.D. 1987-1992 </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Kenneth Michael James Fernando </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">B.A. B.D. 1992-2001</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></li><li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Rt. Rev. Duleep Kamil de Chickera </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">B.Th. M.Sc. 2001- </span></li></ol><p></p><br /></span>
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