Christianity in Ceylon

New Zealand Tablet, 27 April 1911, Page 785

Christianity in Ceylon

- - Ecclesiastical returns for the past year in the Island of Ceylon will necessarily direct the attention of Catholics to the flourishing condition of the Church in that portion of the far East. There, side by side, are working 133 European secular priests, 43 native priests, 300 religious, Oblates, Benedictines, and Jesuits, and 450 Sisters in various educational and charitable institutions. The Island of Ceylon, 266 miles long , and 140 miles broad, lies to the south east of India, separated from it only by a chain of reefs. Before the Christian era it became a stronghold of Buddhism, and it was there that the Buddhist Scriptures were first reduced to writing, in the year 88 b.c. After the advent of Europeans to Ceylon in the sixteenth century and the consequent introduction of Christianity,_ Buddhism lost much of its prestige, just as it. had previously lost much of its purity and activity. The credit of introducing Christianity among the Cinghalese belongs to the Franciscans, who arrived in Ceylon in 1518, and under the protection of the Portuguese government preached the Faith, and converted many thousands. 'About the middle of . the same century the island was visited by St. Francis Xavier, who converted, large numbers to the Faith, especially among the Tamils of the north. _ Catholicism prospered until it encountered the opposition of the Dutch, by whom the Catholic Faith was proscribed, penal laws enacted against Catholics and the Dutch Reformed religion set up as the religion of the State. Catholicity would have been extinguished were it not for the efforts of missionaries from Goa, who kept the spark of faith alive and even converted many heathens. A new era dawned with the conquest of the island by Great Britain, for although the Church of England became in turn the cstablishced form of Christianity, religious liberty was granted to all. In our day Dutch Presbyterianism is represented by a few hundred Dutch descendants, who are ministered to by Presbyterian ministers from Scotland. Anglican disestablishment came about in 1881. To-day the Catholic Church is the largest Christian body in tho island, numbering fully 300,000 the Anglicans coming next with about 35,000, and the Presbyterians with 4000. At the date of the British occupation in 1796, the Catholic population was only 50,000. However, there are still on the island 2,150,000 Buddhists, 830,000 Hindus, and 250,000 Mohammedans, showing that notwithstanding the good work accomplished the missionary field remains a large one. There are now five dioceses in Ceylon, the Metropolitan See of Colombo, and four Suffragan Sees in Jaffna, Kandy, Gaile. and Trincomalee. The hierarchy is composed of two Oblates. two Jesuits, and one Benedictine. These five bishops have, besides the priests, European and native, assisting them, communities of, Sisters or the -Good Shepherd, the Sisters of the Holy Family, the Franciscan Nuns, the Missionaries of Mary, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, in charge of various schools and institutions. . One institution worthy of special mention is the General Seminary, established by Leo. XIII,. at Kandy, for the education of a native clergy, and placed bv him under the direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. To-day there are nearlv one hundred students in this Seminary, who are recruited from all parts of the east.