HISTORY OF MADHU CHURCH

HISTORY  OF   MADHU  CHURCH  -  SRI LANKA        

by  PRATHILAL FERNANDO

                

 About 300kms  away from the capital city of Colombo, in the North Western district of Mannar, lies the Madhu Church. It's a church consecrated to the Virgin Mary and is venerated especially by the Catholics of the land. It's a jungle shrine, less visited when it's not festival time. Every year, there are three festival seasons observed by this church. They are held in the months of July, September and October. Mannar, the arid land where the Madhu church is located, is very rich in folk-lore and legend.

Prince Vijaya called this land "Thambapanni" when he saw the copper coating on his palms where he touched the shore when he landed here. According to Ramayanam, the monkey ally, Hanuman and Prince Ram landed in Lanka at this spot when he came in search of Sita. A Muslim shrine exists at a spot at which it is believed that Adam and Eve are buried. Mannar is also considered one of the oldest sea ports in the island. In past eras it was known as Mahathittha. The Portuguese too built a fort here. The presence of the Hindu temple Thiruketheswarm, the Muslim shrine where Adam and Everest, and the Madhu church make this area well worth visiting. Thousands of devotees camp out in the nearby jungle during the festival seasons. It's an important point to interact with the local population. After a period of about 30 years of war, the area is once more open to tourists. The legendary Adam's bridge on which hanuman's army is said to have crossed over to Lanka and on which Adam and Eve who were banished from paradise also crossed over to Lanka, lies according to legend somewhere close to the Second Eden. To the west of the south point is a chain of reefs with an abandoned light house.

The  Shrine of Our  Lady of Madhu is a Roman Catholic Marian shrine  in Mannar district of Sri Lanka. With a history of  over  400 years, this shrine acts as a center for pilgrimage  and worship for Sri Lankan Catholics.  Admittedly  Christianity  in Sri Lanka was not well known before the 16th century, but some local traditions claim that  Saint Thomas the Apostle was active in the island  . The Portuguese missionaries from India,   especially  under  the authority of  Saint Francis Xavier are known to have brought Roman Catholicism to the  Kingdom of Jaffna, which comprised the  northern peninsula of Sri Lanka  .

Over 600 men, women and children embraced the faith and most of them sealed with their blood their belief in Jesus Christ The massacre of the new converts was carried out on the orders of Sankily the king of Jaffna.
The new religion that was planted in Mannar and its neighbourhood did not die. In 1583 the number of Christians is said to have been about 43,000 with 26 churches.
One of these churches was situated in Mantai, a village on the mainland and about six miles from Mannar. This church was the original home of the statue of Our Lady of Madhu, which at that time was called Our Lady of Good Health.
The conquest of the Island by the Dutch opened an era of cruel persecution against the Catholics and the faithful of Mantai were forced to consider seriously the desirability of removing the statue of Our Lady of Mantai to a haven of safety.
There were no priests to give them any spiritual support or strength.
With the consent of the people twenty devoted families, in the year 1670, migrated with the statue of Our Lady of Mantai into the Kandyan territory, where they hoped to save the statue from profanation and them selves from persecution.
Under the protection of the Heavenly Mother the little company wandered hither and thither in the thick forest of the Wanni in constant fear of the enemy.
Guided by divine Providence, they reached a hamlet by the side of an ancient tank on the royal Rameswaram-Kandy route, wherethere was a customs house belonging to the Kandyan king.
The hamlet was called Maruthamadhu; and there the Manthai Catholics planted the seed of Catholicism.
In the calm and serene atmosphere of Maruthamadhu the seed grew under Our Lady’s protection, while persecution raged throughout Jaffna Pattanam.
About the same time there was another movement to wards Madhu from the Jaffna Peninsula. To avoid the Dutch persecution about 700 Catholics crossed over to Poonaryn and sought refuge in the Wanni. Having wandered for days in anxiety and fear, they too, as if by a miracle, were led to Maruthamadhu.
What a happy meeting amongst sylvan surroundings! Among the newly arrived Catholics named Helena whose fervent piety and edifying life won for her the title of “Santa Lena” i.e. St. Helena. In the course of time she married the officer who was in charge of the customs house at Madhu and the first little church dedicated to Our Lady of Madhu was built by this pious lady.
For this good act the Christians have immortalized her memory by calling the place “Silena-Marutha-Madhu” which to the present day continues to be one of the names of the holy sanctuary. From her sylvan shrine Our Lady of Madhu dispensed liberally her favours spiritual and temporal to her children.”

 The newly converted Christians  were  under persecution under both the king of Jaffna  and  the Dutch . During this time the Catholics regrouped to form  a  church in Mantai  installing a statue of Our Lady  of Good Health in a shrine.   The Dutch invasion and the persecution of the Catholic Church in 1670 , led to 20 Catholic families fleeing from Mantai, along with the statue of Mary in  that church to a safer locale of Madhu  . About the same time another 700 Catholics migrated from Jaffna peninsula into Wanni  forests. When these two communities met in Madhu they installed a new Shrine with the statue  .    

With the revival of Catholic faith by missionaries  such  as  Blessed Joseph Vaz , Oratorian priests  expanded the small shrine in late 17th century  . With the  arrival of British to the island, the persecution ceased, but the number of Catholics remained  small, with just 50,000 members in 1796  . With such a small  community the Shrine at Madhu started to attract pi lgrims from all over the country  .

The stifling of Jesuit authority which had started in 1773 in the  subcontinent  built-up as a  problem and eventual suppression of the Congregation in Madhu by 1834 . The building of the new church was initiated by  Bishop Bonjean in 1872 and his  successors built a facade, the spacious presbytery, the restful chapel of the Blessed Sacrament  and the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes  . In 1920, Bishop Brault who had a very special devotion to Our Lady of Madhu, obtained the  Pope's sanction for the historic solemn coronation  of the Statue of Our Lady of Madhu. Bishop  Brault with the clergy and the laity had petitioned the Vatican Chapter through the Apostolic  Delegate Cardinal Van Rossam, Prefect of the S.C. o f Propaganda and he personally presented  the request to the Holy Father who in his audience  of April 7, 1921, granted this favor of  coronation of Our Lady. In 1924 it was officially crowned by the Papal Legate who came in the  name of Pope Pius XI  .

The Church was consecrated in 1944 during World War II. In preparation for the  consecration  ceremony, a marble altar replaced the old wooden   structure and the whole sanctuary was covered  with white and blue marble. In spite of travel restrictions and difficulties finding conveyance,  more  than 30,000 people came to the jungle shrine  .

The statue of Our Lady of Madhu had been taken for  procession thrice to the parishes in Sri  Lanka, in 1948, 1974 and in 2001. The latter was as a spiritual effort to encourage Catholics in  Sri Lanka to pray for peace and an end to the civil war . In the year 1870 the new Bishop arranged an annual  festival to be celebrated on the 2nd of July.  But in recent years the August 15th festival draws  the biggest crowds because it is one of the  most hallowed days for Catholics celebrating the day of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary  into heaven and also because the school holidays facilitate entire families to make the trip.