Devotees flock to St. Anne’s Shrine at Talawila

By Commodore Shemal FERNANDO

Today, the feast of Saint Anne is celebrated at the hallowed national Shrine at Talawila under the patronage of the Chief Shepherd of the Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Devsritha Valence Mendis. The administrator of the shrine, Rev. Fr. Luke Nelson Perera will conduct the feast befittingly with special attention on the spiritual needs of the pilgrims who throng Talawila from all over the country. The projects launched to develop the shrine and its environs will certainly gladden the pilgrims.

In the golden sands of Talawila, the trammels of civilisation and the artificial conventions of society are cast aside for plain living and simple thinking; religion begins to occupy its rightful place. The sense of Christian charity and Catholic solidarity begins to grow in the pilgrim’s heart at the historic shrine where our forefathers have knelt, prayed and offered supplications and thanksgiving.

No human power drew them there; neither worldly gain nor love of pleasure or profit or fame brought them there for centuries. An old church and in it a rough image of a Saint, who had lived and died even before the birth of Christianity; these have been the attractions.

They have become animated by a sense of an unseen, yet real power; they have come to worship God and honour His saint, to invoke divine assistance and offer thanks for favours received.

Saints Anne and Joachim

In the liturgical calendar, the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim is celebrated jointly on July 26. They were the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. St. Anne is the Patron of Christian Mothers whilst St. Joachim is the Patron of Fathers. Saints Anne and Joachim were childless for many years. This was considered to be a punishment of God among the Jews. But God, in his wisdom and mercy granted them a child.

The couple offered their little daughter to God in the Temple. As a young girl, she spent time in service to the Temple, working and learning with other girls. But it was probably her parents who tausght her to read, love and follow God’s word and to know and understand the Scriptures.

Mary loved her mother and father. Saints Joachim and Anne loved their daughter and followed God’s plan in raising her. They are a shining example and intercessors for Christian parents. The saints are often depicted with Mary holding a book of Scriptures, teaching their daughter to read. A church was built in the fourth century, possibly by Saint Helena, on the historic site of Saint’s house in Jerusalem.

Humble beginning

It is against a background of small beginnings, rapid progress, severe trials and joyous triumphs, that the history of the sanctuary of St.Anne at Talawila has been silhouetted by written records and authentic traditions.

According to history ,Kalpitiya and the district around it nurtured the earliest contacts between Sri Lanka and India. The landing place of Prince Vijaya is just across the lake, a few miles to the north of Puttalam and further north is Kudiramalai, Pliny’s Hippuros, once a busy trade centre.

Kalpitiya itself was an important port for the trade between Sri Lanka and India and at times, the waters around Kalpitiya ran blood when contending nations fought for the control of sea routes. In 1591, Andre de Furtado de Mendonca had a fierce encounter with the famous corsair, Cutimurca off Kalpitiya, and gained a decisive victory for the Portuguese power in the East.

Growth of the shrine

Christian missionary work began in the peninsula around 1606 and the Fathers of the Society of Jesus from South India were the first to preach the Gospel.

However, with the recapture of Negombo by the Dutch shortly after 1644, the Jesuit Fathers had to quit the peninsula and the Catholics were without mass or sacraments or adequate religious instructions for nearly half a century, yet they remained steadfast in the faith.

In 1687, Venerable Fr. Joseph Vaz (now Blessed Joseph Vaz), an Indian oratorian, taking pity on the deserted flock of Christ in Sri Lanka smuggled himself into Jaffna in the guise of a labourer. He arrived at a time when the Dutch persecution of Catholics was very bitter and when there was a price set on the head of any Catholic priest who might be found in Dutch territory.

In spite of incredible hardships, he visited, consoled and ministered to the Catholics in Jaffna and the Wanni. In 1690 he went to Puttalam and the presence of a priest just across the water, could not have been long hidden from the Catholics in the peninsula. In 1705, five missionaries including Fr. Jacome Gonsalves arrived in Sri Lanka.

But a priest was not always secure in Kalpitiya as long as the Dutch held it but in spite of the danger, the priests continued to minister the Catholics of the peninsula. With the gradual Dutch ascendancy in the coastal areas, the obstacles to missionary work increased but the church progressed especially in the King’s territory.

In 1747, King Sri Vijaya Raja Sinha died in the prime of life and many other calamities befell the kingdom, which were generally believed to be retribution from heaven for the injustice done to Catholics. At least, so thought his successor, Kirthi Sri Raja Sinha and showed favour to them.

In 1796, Colombo was surrendered to the British by the Dutch ending the Dutch rule in Sri Lanka. In 1806 all disabilities and restrictions imposed by the Dutch on the Catholics were removed. And an era of freedom, at long last dawned on the Church.

Origin of the shrine

The first traditional account on the origin of the shrine is that in the 17th century, a Portuguese traveller, in poor circumstances, trekked from Mannar to Colombo to find a livelihood there, but failing to do so was returning by the coast, when he fell asleep under a large tree in Talawila in the present shrine.

He dreamed that he saw an image at the foot of the tree, with lighted tapers burning on each side. On waking up he witnessed with astonishment that the image was actually present. In his confusion at this sudden realisation of the dream, he prayed loud and was suddenly awe-struck by the ‘great awakening light’.

St. Anne herself in bodily presence stood before him and said that the image he had seen was a representation of Her and that he should build a church there, and name it after Her, and preserve in it the relic that had so graciously been revealed to him. Deeply impressed with what he had witnessed the poor man set about building a small Chapel.

St. Anne appeared to him again and left him some gold coins which enabled him to return to his country shortly where he raised funds for the construction of a permanent church at Talawila. He was, however, favoured with a vision of the beautiful saint, upon whose instructions, he built a larger church in its place.

First repository of miraculous statue

The second traditional account of the origin is very popular as matter of fact. The age-old litany to St. Anne is based on it. During the 18th century, an European trader was shipwrecked off the coast of Talawila. In those days, people living in the forests collected forest products such as elephant tusks, horns, honey, wax and ebony and shipped them to the southern ports.

It was one such trading craft that came to grief off Talawila. As the vessel was dedicated to St. Anne and carried Her image, the crew sought Her protection and was saved. As the land offered them had no shelter, they looked around in distress and saw where the present church stands a large banyan tree whose cool shade beckoned them.

After reverently placing the sacred image in a hollow of the banyan tree, they rested. But, before they left, the Captain of the ship made a vow to St. Anne that if his business prospered, he would revisit the spot and build a church, where he would place her image for veneration.

As there was no hope of rescuing his vessel or its cargo he went back home to Galle, where he had his business. Some fishing craft from Kattaikadu saw the wreckage and made for it in the hope of securing the goods afloat on the shore. The news spread and more people came to the spot, which gradually acquired the name of Kappaladi which means “the place of the shipwreck”.

From the shore they strayed on to a large banyan tree, probably to assess their finds under its cool shade. To their wonder, that saw, in the hollow of the tree, an image of St. Anne! Thus, the first repository of the venerated miraculous image of St. Anne was nature’s handiwork - the hollow of a banyan tree.

Reports of favours granted by St. Anne spread all over the country and attracted many a pious Catholic. In the meantime, the merchant from Galle prospered in business and revisited Talawila as vowed. He built a little Chapel and placed in it the venerable image of St. Anne and made a pilgrimage to the Chapel annually when business brought him to Kalpitiya.

In 1943, by some strange coincidence, exactly a hundred years after the erection of the present church, there appeared the hull of a wrecked vessel for which the present generation has no recollection whatsoever. The crowds that flocked to view it, in the pious belief that it was the vessel which had once borne the image of St. Anne, testify to the persistence of the tradition.

Religious enthusiasm

The religious enthusiasm of the pilgrims reaches a climax at the High Mass on the festal day. It was the joy of a good conscience and the feeling that they were about to pay the last public homage to the good Mother, St. Anne. As the procession returns with the miraculous statue, the Administrator of the shrine places it on the alter.

Then the prayer to St. Anne is recited. The Chief Shepherd of the Diocese, blesses the crowd. With bowed heads or outstretched arms they receive the blessing. followed by a deafening clapping of hands.

The feast is now over. But before departing, each pilgrim comes once more to the feet of St. Anne to take her leave. It is not without emotion that one departs from the sacred spot. One needs to console oneself for the forced separation, to cherish the hope that one may have a chance again.

Then, the heart full of sweet consolation and the ears ringing with the haunting melody of the well-known hymn to St. Anne, Santana Maniyene, one seizes the Pilgrim’s Staff for the homeward journey, narrating what one saw and heard, the devotion of those who coordinated the spiritual and temporal welfare of the pilgrims and above all the inexplicable confidence and love St. Anne has won by her goodness to her children.

(The writer’s maiden article written in fulfilment of a vow to St. Anne was carried in the Sunday Observer on August, 1988 and same inspired him to become a freelance journalist. He has published over 250 articles covering an array of subjects. He expresses his profound gratitude to the late Rt. Rev. Dr. Edmund Peiris and Rt. Rev. Dr. Frank Marcus Fernando, the past Bishops of the diocese for their guidance and inspiration).