Church of Our Lady of Matara:

A beacon of light to pilgrims

by M. Felix V. Cooray

“She came again, over the waves...
Back to her people in Matara”

The church dedicated to Our Lady of Matara will celebrate its annual feast from September 6 to 8.

The church has become so well-known due to the miraculous statue of our heavenly mother enshrined in the church. Today the church stands as a beacon light to visitors, pilgrims, foreign visitors and to the entire Southern Province. This year the feast falls on her birthday, September 8.

The miraculous statue 18 inches in height is of the Madonna and Child. Mary is standing with the child Jesus upon a pedestal featuring three ocean waves. Three times the statue of our heavenly mother was taken by the sea and each time she has returned to Matara.

The last time was the result of the three waves of the tsunami. The statue was found three days after. She has indicated very clearly that our mother wants to make her final abode at Matara. Thousands of pilgrims will gather at her feet to celebrate her birthday.

Corpus Christi

On September 6, Corpus Christi will be celebrated at 4 pm, holy hour followed by procession and Benediction. The chief celebrant will be Mgr. Nihal Nanayakkara, Vicar General of Galle Diocese.

The statue belongs to the Portuguese type of sculpture of the early 17th century. It is a mystery as to who brought the statue to Sri Lanka, but we are aware that it was in Sri Lanka when the Portuguese occupied the area almost 400 years ago.

According to the story that has been passed down through generations, a huge wooden crate was pulled up by fishermen off the coast of Weligama, near Matara early in the 17 century. When the crate was opened, the statue was found inside untouched by the sea water.

The fishermen handed over the statue to the Parish Priest and then placed it in the original church of Matara. This was the first time that the statue returned from the sea.

Some time after the statue had to be hidden due to the religious sanctions imposed by the Dutch, but again it returned to Matara.

Cholera epidemic

Later a cholera epidemic swept through the entire southern district and claimed hundreds of lives.

The people of Matara rallied round the statue and prayed for an end to the epidemic. The statue was taken in a solemn procession through the streets of Matara. After a few days the area was declared safe by the health authorities. There were no fresh cases and no further deaths. Since then the people have viewed the statue as miraculous.

In the early 1990s, the first Bishop of Galle, Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Van Reith, a Belgian, had the statue sent to Europe to be restored by a famous sculptor Zeus of Gehent. After restoration the sculptor placed the statue on the ship “Beachy’ to be sent to Matara. The ship was caught in a storm in the north sea and nearly wrecked, most of the cargo was destroyed or thrown overboard.

Finally the ship arrived in Colombo without the statue. The Bishop of Galle wrote to friends in Belgium to retrieve the priceless item. The statue was traced to a man in Middlesbrough who demanded money in exchange for the sculpture. When the sum was refused, he damaged the face of the statue and threw it away. The statue was recovered and returned again to Zeus for repairs. The sculptor spent a great amount of energy and time restoring it to its original position.

Tsunami

On December 26, The congregation was less than usual. During communion time around 9.10 am the church and the entire environment went under water. It was the cruel stubborn waters of tsunami gushing in. The celebrant Rev. Fr. Charles Hewawasam advised the people to run for safety. Then he ran to remove the Blessed Sacrament and the miraculous statue. By this time, however, everything had gone.

However, they noticed that another stubborn and more disastrous wave which was far more destructive was fast approaching which would cause more damage to the church and the entire area. Fr. Charles had to run for safety and took refuge in the new building. The gap between the first wave and the second was about 20 minutes.

During the tsunami, the valuable jewellery presented in 1918 to the Blessed Mother went missing. After the water receded Fr. Charles with a few parishioners visited the main road and found a man carrying a bucket similar to the one used for church collections. Here they found the entire set of jewellery.

Our Heavenly Mother guided them to recover the lost jewellery.

Fr. Charles had to take refuge in a room in the building. With a small congregation, they kept on paying for the statue to be found.

On December 29, 2004, quite unexpectedly, Fr. Charles had a visitor who informed him that the statue has been washed ashore 400 metres away from the land. Fr. Charles Hewawasam embraced the statue in tears and praised god for finding this heavenly gift.

The infant Jesus carved on the statue of Our Lady of Matara had not lost his crown during the sea voyage. It is so tiny, but survived. The gold chain too which was on infant Jesus on the statue of Our Lady's body was recovered.

Every first Saturday, devotions to the Heavenly Mother followed by Holy Mass is celebrated at 7 am.