CHAPTER III

The Portuguese In Ceylon.

Arrival of the Portuguese — Demolition of Heathen Temples and Sacred places — Subsequent conciliatory action of the Catholic Clergy — Political intrigues of the Jesuit Fathers — Toleration by the later Dutch Governors — The flourishing condition of the Catholic Church in spite of Persecution — The advanced position which that Church now holds.

ThePortuguese came to Ceylon in 1505, but it was with the sword in one hand and the cross in the other. Every heathen temple was an abomination, and from that of the "Thousand pillars" on the promentory of Trincomalie to that of the "City of God" at Dondrahead, all that came in their way were destroyed, and even the holy of holies desecrated by acts, at the unheard-of enormity of which Hindu and Buddhist stood alike aghast with horror. But the followers of Ignatius Loyola knew better than to irritate when conciliation was sure to be attended with more hopeful results. By "becoming all things to all men" they won over Hindu and Buddhist alike. The elaborate ritual of the Catholic Church, its pomp of processions, its music, and its torches, its pooja or sacrifice, its images and statues, its feasts, fasts, and prayers for the dead, all presented so many points of resemblance that, without even the inducement of material favors so liberally held out, the people found no difficulty in exchanging the old faith for the new cultus. The Roman Catholic Church then founded on such unpromising soil was during the earlier period of Dutch rule subjected to much persecution and oppression, though no doubt the motive to persecution was furnished by political hatred, as much as by religious antagonism. More than one Jesuit Father was taken flagrante delicto, and convicted of conspiracy and plotting against the Government. This may be urged as some extenuation of the unnecessary harshness with which the Dutch, who had so successfully battled for freedom of conscience, treated their Catholic subjects; but that persecution could not be Justified either on grounds of religious dutv or on those of political necessity, was fully acknowledged by the three last Governors of Ceylon, Falk, Vander Graft, and Angelbeek, who removed most of the disabilities under which they laboured, and admitted them to something like a share of toleration.

And yet the Roman Catholic Church flourished in spite of all the deadly plakaats promulgated by the Government, and the children of the earlier converts clung to the faith into which they had been baptized with the devotion of martyrs. A few among the wealthier classes were no doubt tempted by the greed of power and pomp of place to embrace the reformed faith of their Dutch masters, but the great mass of the Roman Catholic population remained true to their Church.

On the accession of the British, the Roman Catholics were restored to all the political and civil rights of British subjects ; and from that day the Roman Catholic mission has established itself so firmly in the land, that the largest body of Christians in the Inland belongs to the Roman denomination. The Island is divided into two Vicariates Apostolic, the Northern and the Southern, and according to the statistics for 1876 there are 33 Clergymen, 237 Churches, 88 Schools, with 6137 pupils, and 66036 Church Members under the jurisdiction of the Bishop Vicar Apostolic of Jaffna ; and 32 Clergymen, 166 Churches, 118 Schools, with 8161 pupils and 108378 Church Members,under the jurisdiction of the Bishop Vicar Apostolic of Colombo. Both these missions are under the Propaganda de Fide of Rome, but are maintained almost entirely by the voluntary contributions of the faithful, supplemented by the income from lands and tenements bequeathed to the Church from time to time by the pious. There are two superior English teaching schools, one at Jaffna and the other at Colombo, and three Convents of the Good Shepherd at Jaffna, Kurnegalle, and Colombo, engaged in the noble work of spreading female education among the people. Amongst the handsomest buildings in the island must be numbered the Roman Catholic Churches. These, in many instances really magnificent buildings, have all been raised with the contributions in money, materials, or labour, of the respective congregations ; and there is now in the course of erection the Cathedral at Kotehena, which when completed— though probably not within the next ten years—for architectural effect, may well be compared with its Roman model.

    

04/02/00