There were four ecclesiastical regions, Kalpity-Puttalam, Chilaw, Kammala and Kurunagala, in the north-western province of Sri Lanka, which had an area of about 3,400 square miles and about 220,000 inhabitants in 1860. This province was generally flat and uniform except on the south-eastern part bordering on the central province and on the western province. The soil was fertile. The coastal regions had an abundance of coconut trees. The north-eastern part was not cultivated for lack of rain. These four regions were the only ones in the Northern (Jaffna) Vicariate that were economically rich and healthy. The region of Chilaw extended between the river of Chilaw and the river of Kammala, that is, between the Deduru Oya and Maha Oya, an extension of about 25 miles.
Chilaw was called the Pearl of North -West Coastal belt, because in ancient times Chilaw was famous for its pearl fisheries. According to the geographical map of Sri Lanka Chilaw is 166 miles distant from Jaffna, 50 miles from Colombo, and 24 miles from Puttalam. There were people of Tamil and Sinhala living together.
According to a report on ‘The Various Missions of Ceylon’ sent on 12 February 1844 to Propaganda Fide by Mgr. Caetano de Rosarie, the number of Catholics in the city of Chilaw, Kalpity and Puttalam was of 5285 Tamils and Sinhalese. In the mission of Chilaw, there were seven churches, of which four were dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and three to St Anthony. Two were constructed of stones, and covered with tiles; five were made of clay and covered with thatch. Each was distant from the other two miles or one mile, and only one was eight miles away from the nearest church.
Bishop Orazio Bettachini, an Oratorian, in a report on his Vicariate of Jaffna on 08 December 1852 said that in the city of Chilaw there were ‘two thousand Christians and they constituting the majority of the inhabitants. This mission on the whole had ten chapels, two schools, and about four thousand five hundred faithful’. The development on the mission during this time was caused by the tireless work of Fr. Don Froilano Oruna, a Spanish Benedictine who had been here from 1850 to 1861.
First Oblate Presence in Chilaw
The missionaries of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate arrived in Sri Lanka in 1847. The Oblates began their activities in the mission of Chilaw when they came for Grand Mission in 1860. Bishop Étienne Semeria, o.m.i., after his consecration on 17 August 1856 began conducting Missions in the chief centres of the Northern Vicariate. He chose first some centres where there was more urgent necessity for such Missions, especially those centres that were badly hit by schismatics in his vicariate. Bishop Semeria described his concern in his diary as ‘‘the needs were everywhere pressing and I had with me just two Missionaries to accompany me and to help me in so difficult a work. Common sense told me that I must begin with the place where the needs were the most pressing for it is those who are the most sick who need the physician very badly and immediately.’’ Thus they conducted Missions first successfully at Kayts, Valigamam, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Jaffna and Mantotte.
Chilaw, Sri Lanka
The next centre selected by Bishop Semeria was Chilaw. He planed to begin Mission with the solemn consecration of a new church. A new big church was put up in Chilaw by the tireless effort of Fr. Oruna. The foundation stone of the church was laid on 29 June 1851 and the entire work was just completed. Bishop Semeria explained the situation in his own words in his diary. “On 23 August (1860), I started for Chilaw, accompanied by my two zealous collaborators, Frs. Chounavel and Bonjean. At the same time I sent a note to Fr. Le Bescou asking him to join us at Chilaw. As the wind was quite against us, we had to make our journey to Chilaw through the jungles of the Vanny. We had even to make haste in order to arrive at our destination some days before 07 September, the day fixed for the solemn consecration of the church wherein we were to begin the exercises of the Mission immediately afterwards. But, man proposes and God disposes. As a result of this most tiresome journey or, to express it better, by the will of God, just two days before our arrival at Chilaw, I was laid low by high fever which lasted for about twenty days and which, as I learned afterwards, caused great anxiety to our Fathers. Thus I was able to proceed with the solemn consecration of the beautiful church of Chilaw only on 10 November. This august ceremony and the plantation of the Cross which too took place on the next day formed a worthy crowning of the exercises of our Mission which, like all the others, was most abundant in fruits of sanctification.’’ From the city of Chilaw then they proceeded to other station in the same mission. Thus the team began Mission preaching at Bolawatte on 2 December 1860. From there they proceeded to Wennappuwa, Mattakotuwa, and Katuneriya in the same region.
It was Fr. Jean Le Bescou who was the first Oblate to come to the mission of Chilaw for parochial ministry. It was in 1861. Fr. Constant Chounavel also came to the mission of Chilaw on 10 January, 1863. Their main task was to catechise the people especially to conquer the old and then the young from indifference and ignorance. Among all the districts of Sri Lanka, Wennappuwa, Katuneriya and Chilaw had the greatest Catholic population. Fr. Chounavel had a great success as he utilized all his talents to enrich his apostolate. He knew the value of Sinhala and so he studied Sinhala. An organist was needed, so he studied music. Young priests had to know the language, so he compiled a Grammar for their use. Catholics had to read good books, so he became an author and writer. Catechetical instructions had to be impressed on the minds of the children, so he manufactured slides.
Fr. Le Bescou in a letter from Marawila on 3 March 1863 says: ‘‘our mission is within the district of Chilaw; it has 5,000 Catholics divided among the four churches of Katuneriya, Marawila, Wennappuwa and Mattakotuwa. The Christians of Marawila have started building a bigger church that will soon be completed. They will have a very spacious church and one of the most beautiful of the Vicariate of Jaffna. With the four main churches are connected three small churches in the villages of Ulhitiyawa, Thoduwawa and Talgasagara. The only language spoken at Katuneriya and Wennappuwa is Sinhala. At Mattakotuwa they speak only Tamil while at Marawila both languages are understood and spoken by the greater majority of people.’’
It was during this time Fr. Pierre Crousel began his missionary career first in the mission of Chilaw and then of Bolawatte, where he applied himself seriously to the study of local languages. In 1863, Fr. Le Bescou was sent to mission of Chilaw. It was the time when he studied Sinhalese and mastered the language within a short time. He organized Missions in these churches and reaped a good harvest. Fr. Adrien Duffo came to the mission of Chilaw where he served from 1865 to 1872. As it was a bilingual parish, and Fr. Duffo knew his Sinhalese and Tamil well, he was able to render much better service to the people of Chilaw. He worked with great ardour and success for the material and spiritual make stronger of the people. He built a spacious mission house, fitting the big and imposing church. He began Marian devotion in the mission. During the festivities of the Month of Mary he conducted novenas and the morning and evening services, and preached daily during the whole month. He had not only laboured much in the main church but also started working amongst his congregation at Pambala and Kottepitiya. In the latter place, he had on 18 June 1871 laid the foundation stone for a new church to be dedicated to St. Anthony.
Oblates in other missions
Wennappuwa was a Sinhala speaking mission in the southern part of the Jaffna Vicariate. Fr. Jean-Pierre Perréard came to this mission as a resident priest on 27 February 1866. Here Fr. Perréard built a new magnificent church dedicated to St. Joseph. He was the main architect and all the parishioners, men, women and children, cooperated with him and contributed their little mite in labour to complete that great edifice. Fr. Perréard remained in Wennappuwa for almost seven years, and he was made the religious Superior of the district of Chilaw.
Another mission station close to Chilaw was Kammala, which was twenty-five miles from Chilaw. It was the last southern end of the Northern Vicariate. Fr. Florencio Gracia, a Spanish Benedictine, had been in the mission from 1852 to 1861. The mission has eight churches, with two thousand Christians and with only one school in 1852. Fr. Le Bescou and Fr. Chounavel began looking after the mission when they came to Chilaw in 1861.
According to the report sent by Semeria to Propaganda Fide on 03 September 1861: There were fourteen churches and thirteen chapels with 15,200 Catholics in the whole of mission of Chilaw in 1861. Among them in Chilaw proper there were 5,700 Catholics; and in both Kammala and Wennapuwa there were 9,500 Catholics. And in Chilaw proper there were two schools, one English school with 17 pupils and one vernacular school with 69 pupils.
Another mission station in the north-western province of Sri Lanka was Kurunagala. It then was an important mission; but I do not treat it here in detail as it does not serve the purpose of this article, since I concentrate much on Oblates’ presence in missions before 1861. According to a report on ‘The Various Missions of Ceylon’ sent to propaganda Fide by Bishop Caetano de Rosarie, on 12 February 1844, in Kurunagala there was a church dedicated to St. Anne, distant from the church of Kandy by 28 miles. The church was a little hut, the walls were built of clay with timber and had temporary roof. Bishop Semeria in his report sent to Propaganda Fide on 03 September 1861 says that in the mission of Kurunagala there were about 716 Catholics made up of Sinhalese and Tamils. The missionary resided at Kurunagala the greater part of the year, and then helped in the district of Chilaw. More than once a year he also visited Galgamuwa, about 30 or 40 miles from Kurunagala. According the same report there were one church and a chapel.
The first Oblate presence was in 1855 in the person of Fr. Perréard. Unfortunately he had been there only for a short while, not even for a year. At the beginning of 1866, the General Administration of the Oblates decided to pull out the Oblates serving in the Vicariate of Colombo and sent them to join the Oblates in the Vicariate of Jaffna. Thus, Fr. Duffo who was one of the four Oblates serving in the Vicariate of Colombo was sent to the mission of Chilaw in 1865 and thus to Kurunagala in 1872. It was said that Fr. Duffo was the builder of Catholic Kurunagala. It was he who built the beautiful convent of the Holy Family Sisters, for the community of whom had been established in the town by Bishop Bonjean sometime previously. Attached to the Convent were two Orphanages, one for boys, and one for girls, which were also built by him and inaugurated on the same day as the Convent on the 06 October 1873. He also put up a big mission house to accommodate the Oblate Fathers of the north-western province during their Annual Retreats which was blessed in June 1877. It was during this time Fr. Pierre Boutin, was a resident missionary at Kurunagala. St. Anne’s English Boys’ School at Kurunagala, which is a very flourishing school today, was started by him. He was mainly instrumental also in the establishment of the Convent of Holy Family at Kurunagala.. Fr. Arsène Caumont, went to Kurunagala mission in 1889. When he was at Kurunagala, he erected a church at Polgahawela, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, and another at Malpitiya, dedicated to St. Sebastian.
The mission of Chilaw in 1873 had 20,603 Catholics among 207,897 of total population in six mission stations where there were 6 Missionaries, 22 Churches, 13 Chapels and 13 Schools. The mission station of Chilaw proper had 3,689 Catholics, 1 Missionary, 4 Churches, 4 Chapels and 4 Schools. The mission station of Mattakotuwa had 3,635 Catholics, 1 Missionary, 3 Churches, 2 Chapels and 2 Schools. The mission station of Wennappuwa had 3,500 Catholics, 1 Missionary, 4 Churches, and 1 Schools. The mission station of Bolawatte had 4,912 Catholics, 1 Missionary, 5 Churches, 1 Chapel and 1 School. The mission station of Kammala had 4,077 Catholics, 1 Missionary, 5 Churches, 3 Chapels and 1 School. The mission station of Kurunagala had 790 Catholics, 1 Missionary, 1 Church, 3 Chapels and 4 Schools.
The old mission of Chilaw is now part of the Diocese of Chilaw which was erected in 1939 in the area that was carved out of the diocese of Colombo and the diocese of Jaffna. The first bishop of this new diocese was Bishop Edmund Peiris, who was also the first native bishop of Sri Lanka. On his retirement in 1972 Bishop Frank Marcus Fernando, a secular bishop, succeeded him in the diocese. Hence, the presence of the oblates still continues involving in various ministries in the diocese of Chilaw.
Jerome Velichor, o.m.i.
