By Primus Bandara Moratuwa (The Island)
The Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Matara is about 400 years old. Several experts in Europe have pronounced that it belongs to the 17th century Portuguese type of sculpture . It is cut out of one solid piece of ash wood.
Mystery
This statue has a story intertwined with the sea. Legend tells us that a huge wooden-crate was hauled out of the sea by some fishermen of Weligama, a town between Galle city and Matara. When it was opened, this beautiful statue of the Mother and child was found inside, untouched by the sea water. They handed it over to the Parish Priest of Matara and it was subsequently placed in St. Mary’s Church, Matara. The statue has come on its own over the waves given itself to the care of the Catholics of Ruhunu Rata (Down South of Sri Lanka)
Cholera epidemic
It gained it’s miraculous nature through an incident which occurred a few years later. At a later period during a cholera epidemic which raged through the District and claimed hundreds of lives, the Catholics rallied round this statue and prayed to be delivered from the terrible disease.
The statue was taken in a solemn procession through the streets of Matara. Non-Catholics too participated. After a few days the area was declared safe by the health authorities. There were no fresh cases and no further deaths.
Miraculous Statue
Since then the people of Matara have come to look upon this statue as miraculous. In the early 1900s, after over 300 years in the church of Matara, the statue looked faded and worn due ‘to exposure and the hands of thousands of devotees touching and kissing it’.
The first Bishop of Galle, Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Van Reeth who was a Belgian made arrangements, with the then famous sculptor and painter, M. Zeus of Gehent, to ‘renovate’ it. Accordingly the statue was sent to him on June 02nd, 1911. M. Zeus not only restored the wasted parts; but also brought out its original colours. With due care the statue was re-packed in a wooden crate and shipped to Matara in the cargo boat "Beachy’’ which set sail from Antwerp. This package never reached our shores. It was lost in transit.
This ship had been caught in a fierce storm in the North Sea and was nearly wrecked. However, it managed to limp into Middlesborough the next morning. Most of the cargo had been destroyed and some had been thrown overboard. At Minicoy, too, the ship encountered trouble and once again a part of the remaining cargo was thrown overboard.
Finally the ship entered Colombo harbour-minus the statute. The Bishop and the Belgian priests in the Gallic Diocese wrote to friends, and relatives in Belgium and through their intensive investigation traced the statute to a man in Middlesborough. This man, an atheist, refused to hand over the statue and demanded a fabulous sum of money which was refused. In his disappointment and rage, he smashed the face of the statue with a hammer and threw it away. But the statue was recovered and it came back to M. Zeus. He repaired and repainted it. His was a labour of love and zeal. He spent all his energy and time on it till it was restored to its original beauty.
The Return
Bishop Van Reeth went to Belgium on holiday and undertook to bring back the statue to Matara on his return. He set sail with the statue in the steamer, Princess Alice. When he reached Colombo and looked for the statue, the crate containing the statue was missing.
Three days later, a cargo boat, the "Uckermarck", from Belgium arrived in Colombo with the missing statue. The "Uckermarck" had sailed after the "Princess Alice" had left Antwerp harbour and into this cargo boat the statue had been loaded as the excess luggage of the earlier passenger ship.
The 3rd miracle
This is Her Story of the Third Sea Voyage. On the 26th December (Holy Family Sunday) 2004, 9.10 a.m. it was the communion rite in the Eucharist. The main focus of the homily was looking into the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth to do the Will of God.
When communion began, one lady from the left wing of the church started shouting and was uneasy. The Parish Priest, Fr. Charles Hewawasam did not take notice. But he felt some uneasiness and became vigilant. Then he saw a van floating on the road just in front of the church. Later he noticed water approaching them. He shouted to the congregation to run to a safer place and ran towards the new building which is in the process of finishing. Many ran with him and followed him to the three storeyed building through the Sacristy. From the second storey, the parish priest saw the sea water spreading all over. It was a flood. Suddenly the sea began receding. He ran towards the church to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the Tabernacle and the Miraculous Statue of Our Lady. It was gone and the pedestal was remaining with the unbroken glass that was fixed from inside and locked from behind the repository, which protected the statue. Then one lady from the choir yelled, ‘Father, Our Lady of Matara has gone. She has been washed away. Run back and save yourself, Run, father run’. The priest filled with sadness and anxiety ran towards the gate, to the beach. There he fell as a big pit had been carved by the tidal wave. Once again that lady, reassured that the miraculous statue had washed away. Then the sea had receded and they could see the sea, one and half kilometres away the rocks were visible.
In this break between the first wave and the second, 15-20 minutes, they could rescue about ten persons. Then the priest remembered that his priest friend, Rev. Fr. Lalith Christopher Fernando, the secretary to the Bishop of Galle, who came to assist him during the Christmas season was in his room. He rushed towards the parish house. The whole parish house was under water. There he gathered mental and physical strength and searched for his friend everywhere in the room but he was not there. In that rush he was able to recognise that Fr. Lalith also had been saved and on the second floor. He too has been washed off and floated towards the inner quadrangle and had a narrow escape. Meantime they brought the wounded, the infirm and the little children towards the new building. Also he managed to save some of the church records and documents.
Then came the powerful, disastrous second wave and it was the most destructive one. With that the sacristy wall, the wall which connects the church and the convent, to gather more information . On their way to the church, they met a young man carrying a bucket and shoulder bag. Then it was recognised that the bucket was used for Sunday collection. This young fellow was reluctant to show his shoulder bag. They had to force open the bag and there they recovered the valuable jewellery. So, Our Lady of Matara did not loose any of her precious ornaments.
It was surprising to note that glass pale of the altar of Our Lady of Matara was lifted and the statue has come down with the water as if she voluntarily joined the sea tide. She was washed away as if she was going ahead to stop the destruction.
Then onwards the priest was busy joining his people identifying the bodies and burying them. But then he discovered one of the pictures of this statue in his devastated room. He kept them in that house he was taking refuge and all those who gathered at that home prayed hard for the discovery of the miraculous statue. "Dear Mother, you have to come back to us. Your children from all parts of Sri Lanka and all walks of life gather to greet you".
Early morning, 29th December as he got up there was a visitor to meet him. That was Mr. Milton Hakmanage, who had been accompanied by one of the parishioners of Matara church, Ravi Rathnasingham. They were bubbling with joy and eyes were filled with surprise. They exclaimed, Father we have found "Our Mother of Matara’. It was washed ashore 400 meters away. That was the land, the Sisters of St. Mary’s Convent were eyeing to buy for their Jubilee project to be celebrated in 2008. As it was very expensive, the sisters were praying for God’s providence. The caretaker of that property has seen a glittering object near the plantain trees but could not identify this object. Then he called Mr. Milton for further inquiry.
The Infant Jesus carved on to the Statue of Our Lady of Matara did not loose his crown during the sea voyage to the nearby land for three days. It is tiny but survived. The hands and part of the foot of Infant Jesus was broken. But they could discover this tiny piece of wood in that property devastated by Tsunami. Also they recovered the gold chain which was on the Infant Jesus which is carved on to the statue of Our Lady.
Later the parish priest informed the Vicar General of the Diocese of Galle, Very Rev. Fr. Nihal Nanayakkara and the Archbishop of Colombo about the arrival of the miraculous statue once again. When it was brought back to the church, there was a large gathering to welcome Her. It included the Vicar General and priests from the Bishop’s House of Galle. When the statue was brought, a procession was held with the heralding of the bells of the church. The congregation with tears expressed their gratitude for Her arrival. They really believe that she walked towards the rough and dangerous sea to calm it with her glorious Son, King of the Universe. After a short but emotion filled prayer service, the Vicar General blessed the congregation which was in tears and the whole nation at this moment of crisis with the Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Matara. After prayers and veneration, the statue was transferred to the little chapel of Bishop’s House of Galle for safety.
On January 02nd 2005, the Feast of Epiphany His Excellency Rt. Rev. Dr. Mario Zenari, The Apostolic Nuncio in Sri Lanka arrived in Matara accompanied by the Vicar-General Rev. Fr. Nihal Nanayakkara & Secretary to the Bishop of Galle Rev. Fr. Christopher Lalith Fernando to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist with the people. The statue was brought back to Matara this time. In the afternoon the statue was again taken back to the Bishop’s House, Galle until the church was repaired and renovated to place the statue in its proper place.
The Statue was brought back to Matara on 2005 September 8th which is the Birthday of Our Blessed Mother. There was a Solemn and Colourful Ceremony at 8.30 a.m. His Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio Most. Rev. Archbishop Mario Zenari and Rt. Rev. Dr. Harold Anthony Perera, Bishop of Galle installed the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Matara in the Main Church.
Compared with other centres of worship in the South this place of worship bears a special mention for the reason that it is the only place that has been officially declared a place of pilgrimage under the Pilgrimages Ordinance. Among the Catholic Churches in Sri Lanka this Church has a very attractively constructed dome of worship and being directly facing the sea, not having interim festivals, the presence of a minority of Catholics promoting and fostering unity and goodwill among Buddhist, Muslims and persons of other faiths and beliefs.
September — 10 Saturday
3.30 P.M. Welcome to the New Bishop of Galle Rt. Rev. Dr. Raymond Wickramasinghe
5.00 P.M. Rosary, Litany, Vespers and Procession
September — 11 Sunday
Feast Day of Our Lady of Matara.
4.00 AM to 6.00 AM Holy Masses.
8.00 AM Festive High Mass.
11.00 AM Mass for the late arrivals.
