Ragama Teawatte Basilica Church
As soon as he learned of Hitler's plan for Sri Lanka, the Archbishop of Colombo, His Excellency John Mary Masson, turned to Therapano Maria. Our Archbishop is an archbishop with strong devotion to Mary. The motto "Here is your Mother" was also used in his official badge. He went to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, which was perhaps the smallest church at that time, and knelt there in prayer. Here he surrendered for the first time seeking protection on May 26, 1940. Long before the Japanese threat arose.
Knowing about the Japanese threat in the same manner as mentioned above, Archbishop John Mary Mason Therapano turned to Mariattmawan with more devotion and confidence. On February 2nd, 1942 AD, he repaired the trust again and made it public. When he visited Tewatta on February 15, 1942 AD, he further informed the people about his duty. And on March 16, a circular was issued to the children asking for a miracle and asking them to recite the Namo Maria and the Rosary to Manion.
Taking the first steps to prove the burden
With the end of the war, His Excellency Mason Archbishop Therapano turned his attention to the great task of fulfilling his duty. First of all, on October 14, 1946, he went to Rome and obtained special permission from Pope Pius XII to build a basilica named after Our Lady of Sri Lanka. The hillock in front of the old cathedral was considered a suitable site for building the basilica. But since it was not owned by the council, a lot of effort had to be made to get it. It was finally achieved on November 27, 1946. The basilica is located on the same plot today
On February 15, 1947, Maryottamawan was announced as "Our Lady of Lanka" and on June 11, 1948, she was named as the main Patroness of Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, on March 9, 1950, the wedding day of Our Lady of Lanka was set as February 4.
Commencement of temple work
On July 22, 1947 AD Mason Archbishop Wipano, who pioneered the construction of the National Basilica, passed away due to a sudden heart attack, and the responsibility of building this great temple was given to the successor, Most Reverend Thomas Kure, Archbishop Therapanan. He accepted this responsibility as a great privilege. Since then, they took steps to fulfill this great responsibility with great commitment. As soon as he officially took over the work of his archbishop's domain, the new archbishop Therapanana decided to start the building work of the basilica immediately. On March 29, 1950, February 4, which was designated as the wedding day of Our Lady of Sri Lanka, was fixed for laying the foundation stone.
On July 15, 1950, Archbishop Therapano cut the first sod to prepare for the foundation stone. The occasion for that was the arrival of the tourist statue of Our Lady Fatima. Bishops from Jaffna, Galle, Kandy and Trincomalee also participated in this event. Then on February 4, 1951, he himself laid the foundation stone. A large number of monks attended the foundation stone laying ceremony. At that time, every year on February 4th, it was a custom for priests to come there. Thus, after participating in the divine service in front of the old Lourdes cave, the group came to the front mountain. It was then that the foundation stone was laid. His Excellency Thomas Kure, the archbishop, was one day looking for the ruins of the cathedral during the Portuguese rule when he came to Paratta between Gallo Road and Bolgoda Lake. He himself has noted that a group of people who were removing stones from the foundation of Siri Krusa Cathedral located here, which is still known today as Palliyawatta, took some stones from there and added them to the foundation of the basilica. The land where the basilica is located today was a hay field. There were no big trees. There were a lot of Capepetia grasses and wild oak grasses, which could be called a bush. The sun was shining that day. Due to this, the practices were conducted in the hot sun. Students of St. Bernard's Cathedral, Borella, Colombo also participated in it.
The construction of the temple was gradually being completed. A major obstacle was lack of funds. A lot of effort had to be made for this. It was the discretion of the archbishop to get everyone's contribution, even a little. Those who wanted to achieve these goals sought the support of those who had money. Reverend Joseph Fernando, who was in charge of Kalamulla Mission at that time, was appointed to collect money on November 15, 1952. He took the lead in this regard with great commitment. The people also showed their gratitude to Maria by contributing as much as possible. Although this support was not enough, Archdeacon Therapano, who went abroad once, got more support from friends and institutions he knew. And it took 23 years to build the building.
The church was consecrated and opened on February 6, 1974. But there was a fear that this would have to be postponed. The reason was that cholera started spreading in and around Colombo from the last week of December 1973. His Eminence Archbishop Oswald Gomez was assigned to get a firm conclusion about this from the Honorable
Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. such
#blurt #blurtstory #geekpranee #hitler #victoria #srilanka #beauty #god