With the pervasiveness of evil all around us and the collapse of Catholic culture in the West it expands the heart with joy to read about the virility of the Faith in lands where Catholics are a small minority as far as the general population, but a huge presence nonetheless. The large island of Sri Lanka, once known as Ceylon, was evangelized by Saint Francis Xavier. The first converts he made there in the sixteenth century — I think it was about three hundred souls — were all martyred by a pagan tyrant. This bloodshed proved to be “the seed of Christians” in that land. Today Catholics make up 7% of the population at 1.4 million. Blessed Joseph Vaz, an Oratorian missionary priest, is honored with the title Apostle of Ceylon. He re-established the Church on the island in the late seventeenth century and converted many people who had become Calvinist under the Dutch occupation. He was beatified in 1995.
CNA reports: On the Feast of the Assumption, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan Catholics were able to finally make the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, following the end of the country’s 30-year civil war. They were told to put away hatred and division in order to build peace. Read full article here.
