Canada Kayts East Christmas Party 2023
Grand Festive Reopening of St. Anthony's Church Kayts
16-08-2020
Photo courtesy Pius Gnanatheepan Arulanantham.
Prayer Card
East Street Community celebrated the bicentenary
to glorify our patron Saint Anthony
and honored our Bishop Tom in our community church!
Commentary from a member of the East Street Community who watched the celebration on the Internet!
Church Reopening Service!
16rh of August will go down in the history of our community as the historical day as well as the memorable event in our life! I would describe it as the magnificent glorification to our patron Saint Anthony and celebration to express our gratitude and thankfulness to our dear Bishop Tom! It was early hours of the morning still I glued my eyes to the iPad and watched the event with inexpressible joy! To our community and me, it was the rarest celebration of joy! To welcome Bishop Tom over 200 of the congregation was waiting outside the church in line to greet the bishop Tom. The East street community consisted of about seventy-five came from Colombo by a luxury coach and some came by car! There were few from Jaffna and the local residents of Kayts! The church was, of course, renovated outside and I found clean and neat. The outside appearance was excellent! The congregation was eagerly and enthusiastically awaiting with patience to welcome Bishop Tom! All of a sudden a white car stopped near St. Anthony’s College! Bishop Tom got off the car, walking slowly and gracefully towards the church being garlanded also escorted by the Bishop of Jaffna Justin and the parish priest amidst cheerful and joyous congregation! While young girls were dancing with lively music accompany the two bishops and the priests to the entrance of the church! At the entrance of the church, the bishops and the priests were welcomed in a Vedic traditional custom with Podu and Rosewater by ladies! This ritual is an ancient custom to cool the mind which I learnt from my class teacher T.S. Aruelanantham!
In the meantime, a brief commentary of the church from its origin was delivered by a lady in Tamil which was excellent! At the entrance of the church before entering inside the church, Bishops Tom and Justin blessed the church and entered the church! Bishop Justin in a short speech thanked the East Street Community for renovating the church! The congregation followed the bishops and priests! Inside of the church which was beautifully renovated with electricity and fans! Also, chairs for the congregation! In my teenager days, the congregation had to sit on the floor and some privileged class paid to sit on the seats on the left side of the church! Also, the tomb of Christ was on the side of the church was brought to the main part of the church!
I have been known to the church from my childhood! The church was remarkably designed and modified as the two side altars were removed and the main altar was brought forward! The main altar was colorfully, elegantly and gracefully decorated with natural flowers which were magnificently attractive for the congregation to look at the altar! After all, God is also described as beauty by our decoration we glorify our God and honor St. Anthony! There is a saying that Heaven and Earth meet in the church! The church was filled to the maximum capacity with the congregation and they spiritually participated in the celebration of the Holy Mass! The Holy Mass was concelebrated by the two bishops and priests! I really felt the holistic experience as it was celebrated in Tamil!
Bishop Justin delivered an excellent homily on religious diversity in faiths and unity and diversity in religions! He quoted the famous evangelist Billy Graham's Daughter! I had the opportunity to listen to Billy Graham in London and he was a remarkable speaker! The message of Bishop Justin was that God was waiting at the entrance of the church to greet us! Afterwards, Bishop Tom was greeted by practically by all the congregation and he was seated in front of the altar and greeted each and everyone with cheerfulness and a radiant smile! Right throughout the service excellent hymns were sung melodiously by the singing group! I did admire them! At the end of the Holy Mass few priests including the rector of St. Anthony’s College as well as the parish priest delivered excellent speeches in Tamil! and English! I really admired and appreciated their command of the languages! When all the service was over the East Street Community ladies magnificently and melodiously sung a song in honor of St. Anthony! Everyone who listened to them would have really enjoyed the musical talent of the ladies!
Brief History of St. Anthony’s church!
Originally the church was dedicated to St. Thomas and would have existed as a small church! During the time of the Dutch rule, they built many forts but they suppressed the Roman Catholicism not only in Sri Lanka but where they ruled in many parts of the world including in their motherland in the Netherlands! Hence many underground churches were built and some of them are still in use as I lived in the Netherlands for a year! I visited some of the churches! Because of the suppression by the Dutch many Catholic Statues were hidden in various places including the inside of the hollow of the trees! Our St. Anthony’s statue was hidden inside a tree and it was found by a woodcutter! He brought the statue to the priest thenceforth our church became St. Anthony’s church! So we are the proud parishioners of the St. Anthony of Padua! There is also a St. Anthony of Egypt! The original statue was stolen from the church!
As I watched the celebration, ceremony and the congregation with the bishops and priests, I thought about our forefathers who built the church over 200 years with a Herculean task! They built the church with dedication and labor of love for the devotion of St. Anthony and we are still worshipping in our church itself is a miracle! Our church and his shrine in Lisbon are also along the seacoasts! On my first voyage as a navigating officer, our ship was berth near the Shrine of St. Anthony and I visited the church without know that church was the first church dedicated to St. Anthony in Lisbon! Of course, he was born in Lisbon but his main Shrine is in Padua and I had the blessings of him to visit the Shrine twice and it is a well-maintained church!
I shall be failing in my duty if don't mention our three gentlemen who took care of the church! They were Thandal Natshastram, Anthonysamy and Udiar! They were the real custodians of the church in my teenage days! During the festival seasons, Anthonysamy used to provide gas lamps to illuminate the church with light! The twelve days festival commenced with a mast hoisting closer to the cross outside the church on the first June! Colorful Naval flags were hoisted with St. Anthony’s flag on the mainmast! At the twelve-day Novena to honor St. Anthony Viritham was sung with the mridangam played by one of the devotees! The highlight was the songs were sung and that time main altar was closed by a screen! With the blessings of St. Anthony, we have renovated the church as the best church in Jaffna and it is for us to maintain the church as a pilgrim church in Kayts! I state pilgrim church because Kayts has more than eight churches but Kayts is a deserted island!
Our Community!
In my opinion, we belong to an artistic and creative community! Our members of the community must have arrived from Tutukudi and settled down in Vanni in Mannar district as farmers! They cultivated many acres and had an excellent harvest! Whereas somehow, they moved to Chaddi! The proof was my second sister-in-law had few acres of paddy field in Mathortam in Vanni! Why they moved to Chaddi, I don't know? Perhaps our community might have built the church in Chaddi as well! but they were farmers in Chaddi! Our community did have few landed gentries! One was my Grandfather Kaithamthamby and Village headman Anthonymuthu! There may be few others whom I do not know! We may call ourselves seafaring community still the members of our community were in many other professions such as in the Government employment, My cousin brother Anthonipillai was a top civil servant, we had another Antonipillai who retired as Chief Postmaster of Jaffna, Soosaipillat who was a Station Master, Poet Karvaloor Karviger Selvarajah, Journalist, teacher and orator Joseph Jegarajasingham apart from monopolizing the Port of Colombo in various capacities as masters and mates as well as crew members! Our community had an artist and painter Anthonysamy who was a lighthouse keeper and another Marisalthamby Emmanuel who carved many statues they are still in few churches around the country!
Many years ago Kayts was a very prominent seaport with flourishing trade and employment opportunities! So they moved to East Street to grab the opportunities to find wage-earning employment! In the meantime, they became interested in sailing and sailed on ships to Burma where ships loaded rice and paddy for Sri Lanka! By sailing on ships most of our members gained sea experience to become masters and mates without qualification with experience! They were remarkable seafarers! There were three or four sailing ships which were engaged in the trade! I also have reason to believe that one ship sailed to the United States on the sail! I think sailing to the United States was a remarkable achievement! I don't know which route they followed perhaps they might have sailed via Cape of Good Hope in Africa! Sailing via Cape of Good Hope was a dangerous and perilous voyage which the famous explorer Vasco da Gama sailed to the Far East! I can remember two sailing ships anchored off Karainager! One was "Annapurani" and another was "Mahaluxmi" As a child, I boarded on one of the ships! To climb on board my Godfather Athisayam gave me a piggyback as I had to hold him tightly while he was climbing on board! During the SW Monsoon, there was no sailing hence the ships were anchored and the crew used to make ropes from the coconut fiber along the Kayts side of the coast!
In the meantime, the Sri Lankan Government under the British rule introduced Coastwise Competency Examination for the seafarers with sea experiences! Many of our members of the East Street Community sat for the examination became Masters and Mates in the tugboats and few worked as ordinary crew members! Now the tide has changed but less and fewer members of our community work on tugboats! Some of the prominent masters and mates were Captains Williams, Benedict, Rajamuthu, Mark Sevapragasm, Lawrence, Anthonysamy, Ariyanayagam, Edmund Aloysius, Thanam Sevapragasm, J F Xavier and many others whom I can't recollect! There were engineers as well some of them namely Richard and Norbert!
Bishop Tom!
We are proud of Bishop Tom who is the member of the East Street Community who is my friend, relation, classmate and we were altar boys during the time of Fr. Benedict and Fr. Philip Ponniah! He was a clever, intelligent and cheerful boy whom Fr Ponniah found him suitable for the priesthood along with Hilary of the West Street! He never thought that Tom will become a bishop and would become his superior but it had happened! Fr Ponniah must have rejoiced Tom's quantum leap to the risen position of a bishop!
In his student days, we used to visit his home to listen to music as he had a gramophone which was HMV manually operated! His parents and two sisters were well known to me! His father was a Captain of a Shell Company barge! His name was Emmanuel! His mother was a devoted lady of virtue! Her name was Saveriachi! His sisters were sincerely friendly with everyone! His eldest sister Malar lives with her husband Bonjean in the United States! The other sister was Indra! He is a grandfather and a great grandfather! One niece lives in Colombo and all other nieces and nephews live in the United States! They built the Grotto in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes! The Grotto is still strong and not damaged is a miracle! Because it was built with affection and devotion to Mother Mary!
His mother and his sister Indra when returning from a pilgrimage to Madhu, the train was derailed! Mother and daughter had a tragic death! An emergency operation was performed on the spot for Indra! She did not survive! To this day, nobody knows, why it happened! It was one of the rarest tragedies happened in Sri Lanka! This tragic incident affected him to become more Holistic in life!
When I saw Bishop Tom getting off the car and walking towards the church accompanied by the bishop of Jaffna Justin and other priests, I thought of Shakespeare's" Seven ages of man!" He walked gracefully and cheerfully amid the cheering congregation and dancing teenage girls! I don't think any of us will forget this memorable event! After the service, I saw him cheerfully and joyfully chatting with many of our relations and friends!
Our forefathers originally settled down in Mannar and Bishop Tom was the first bishop of Mannar was the rarest coincidence and he was popular with everyone in the Mannar district! He was of course selected as the bishop when he was studying in the Vatican! It is the smallest state in the world with 0.44 square kilometers with nearly 700 residents of the international community but no one is permanent still the most powerful state in the world!
I left Kayts in 1953 to join St. Benedict's College and the same year Bishop Tom joined the Martian Seminary in Jaffna! Since then I greeted him once or twice in Colombo walking with his father wearing white shorts and a white shirt! I believe that he was ordained as a priest in 1963 and celebrated his first Holy Mass in Kayts! Later he served as a parish priests in various parishes in Jaffna! I totally lost contact with him! In 1978, my wife Chitra visited Canada and the United States! She met him in New York! Over the phone said that she has surprising news for me! She said " I met your relation Fr. Tom! She got his telephone number and that was how I was reconnected with Bishop Tom! Both of us visited him in the Vatican and he took us on mini tour of the Vatican and Rome! He took us inside St. Peter’s church and I was able to see the Michelangelo’s masterpiece "Pieta" At that time there was no security and we were able to walk around freely in the Vatican! Later he visited London thrice and once as a Bishop! When he visited as Bishop, we had Edward Benedict in London with his family! So we had a get-together dinner in Anton Benedict's house! It was a joyous evening with him! Again Anton and him were altar boys with me at the St. Anthony’s church! Reviving the past was also a joyous reminisce in life! At that time we were teenagers but now we're adults!
The second time I visited him in the Vatican! By then he knew that he was appointed to be the Bishop of Mannar! It was the day of celebration as it was the feast of St. Peter and Paul! So I was with his fellow students and director, I was introduced to his director and had dinner with them! It was an enjoyable evening with all the priests and all were PhDs! I spent the night in the Vatican and travelled by train to Padua to visit the Shrine of St. Anthony! It was an interesting and enriching journey with him as he talked about his stay in the Vatican and his visit to Israel and Egypt to do his research! His admiration for the President of Egypt Sadat as his courage to visit Israel to seek peace! He visited the Holy Land as well for his research! We spent the night in Padua and we visited Venice! We walked along the St. Mark’s Square and discovered some parts of Venice! We saw many Gondolas but we never crossed the waterways on it as there were plenty of bridges! to cross over! Again it was too dark for us to go for a jolly ride as well on the Gondolas! Next day Bishop Tom celebrated the Holy Mass at the main altar in Italian and delivered a homily in Italian!
Afterwards, we proceeded to Milan as he had few friends! Since it was a farewell to Milan trip, we had an excellent celebration organized by his priest friends! We really enjoyed our stay with them as they gave us a VIP treatment as they affectionately and sincerely honored us! We spent the night in Milan and the next day, we said goodbye to each other at the Milan Rail Station! He joined the train to Rome and I joined the train to Bologna! His stay in the Vatican also came to an end! He did invite me to the consecration!
He was the long-serving Bishop in Sri Lanka as he was a Bishop for 34 years! He will go down in the history of Sri Lankan bishops as a brave and courageous bishop who confronted many crises with the Government and Freedom fighters! He diplomatically, cautiously and tactfully dealt with everyone! he became friendly with the soldiers and they lovingly began to address him as "Apai Bishop!" During the crisis era, he gave excellent interviews to the foreign reporters! They were very honest interviews with emotion and feeling further he described the events in brilliant vocabulary and the language of the poets! I read most of them and I am writing from my memory!
He is, of course, an orator in English and in Tamil!! Also fluent in German and Italian! He is one of the widely travelled bishops among the Sri Lankan bishops! He visited few times as a Bishop to celebrate the Holy Mass in Walsingham which is the national shrine of England! First, he first visited Walsingham, Dr. Rita Saverimuthu, Anton Benedict and I, participated in the pilgrimage Holy Mass! Whenever he visited London, Anton Benedict and I used to visit him in the Sri Lankan Chaplaincy Centre! Last time I met him; he gave me a copy of his published diary! In his diary, he wrote about his travel in Jaffna peninsula during the time of crisis! It was well written with full of information about the hardships and struggle of the inhabitants of the Jaffna peninsula! It was interesting for me to read that he travelled by ship as well!
After his retirement, he published a diary about his life as a bishop in Jaffna during the turbulence history of the Tamils! It was full of information about his struggle and travel! He even sailed on ships! All in all, he confronted defeat, victory, struggles, pain and disasters like a boy standing on the burning deck he was bravely tolerated all the calamities! He was always confident and cheerful in his attitudes towards life! As a bishop, he travelled to Germany, United States, Canada and the UK to celebrate Holy Masses! Wherever he visited he had VIP treatment with affection and friendship!
I end my appreciation with the quote from William Shakespeare! Some are born great! Some achieve greatness! Some have greatness thrust upon them! He achieved his greatness by his simplicity with humility and cheerfulness! He never dreamt of becoming a bishop! But all happened to him as a miracle! I am proud of him as he was my classmate!
East Street Religious Community!
Our first priest was Fr Victor Rajanayaham! When I was a child, he was ordained as a priest and I can remember the joyous celebration accorded to him by our members of the community! It was a unique celebration and at the function, melodious song s were composed to honor him! I can remember some lines of the songs and my brother Jega used to sing them for me, he was a teenager at that time but he had photographic memory! Next one our Bishop Tom! Now we have another young priest among us who is Fr. Jude! He is also a clever and intelligent priest who worked as a priest in Pakistan and few other countries! I had the joy of meeting him in London! I really admire his humility and simplicity with cheerfulness and humor!
We still have two nuns who still active! One is Sister Neomi and the other one is Sister Mary Kamala, Srinathan's daughter I do know Sister Neomi from her childhood days! About a quarter-century ago, she attended my nephew Cassian's wedding in the St. Lucias's church! After the service I was waiting outside, she came to me and asked me whether I have seen Linus! With a smile, I said "I am Linus" Thenceforth we were reunited and met her few times! I also visited her convent! Her order is called the "Charity of the Poor" But their residence is a posh area! She works as a social worker with the tea plantation workers and she is doing an excellent service to them! Life is hard but she renders her service with joy! Once she told me, a snake was under her bed! I was terrified to listen to her story! According to my mother and Godmother, my pram was surrounded by a snake and I was inside! Srinathan was a Church pillar as he was a devoted Roman Catholic! He daughter is a clever nun who became a teacher and was also a principal in a convent! Now after retirement, she works in a tea estate as a social worker! I don't know how far the information is correct!
We did have two of our relations who were in the Seminary and left priesthood! One was Station Master's son whom we used to call him as Libby! He was in the Martin Seminary in Jaffna and left after two or three years! Another one was Edward Benedict! He was in the Ampitya Seminary in Kandy! He left after few years! Later he lived in New York as a teacher! I don't know, what made them leave the priesthood but in those days priesthood training was highly disciplined Anton Benedict and myself were to join the seminary but it did not happen! Both of us, visited the Bishop House to meet Bishop Emmalinus with Fr Benedict who was our parish priest at that time but the bishop was away! I don't know whose luck or blessings!
Bishop Justin!
He is not a stranger to our church as he was educated in St. Anthony’s College as a student and as a child as well as a teenager he must have attended service in our church with his parents! I met his parents and his Grandma also his brother in London! I spoke to him when he visited the Netherlands to participate in our pilgrimage to Banu in Belgium! He was educated in London and I do have his PhD thesis but so far I have not read it! His homily was excellent as he spoke about the religious unity in diversity! He quoted the famous Evangelist Billy Graham's daughter! His message was God is waiting for us at the entrance of the church! I believe church is the meeting place of Heaven and Earth! I express my sincere gratitude and joyous thankfulness to him for consecrating the church along with Bishop Tom and his brotherly priests! Also honoring Bishop Tom!
Parish Priests and other participating priests!
I have not forgotten the parish priest and his fellow priests including the rector of St. Anthony’s College! I thank all of them for their brilliant speeches in English and Tamil! Also, Fr Mayooran for all the preparation he made for the celebration to make it a successful momentous event in the history of Jaffna Catholic Diocese!
Hymns and music!
The choir team was excellent in singing as the music was lively and melodious as it uplifted the spirit of the congregation! At the end of the service, our community women sang a hymn in honor of St. Anthony and it was old hymn! It was absolutely magnificent! Because they were full of joy in singing! Please remember the music can enrich our heart and mind as it is the food inspirational and spiritual love!
St. Anthony’sTamil School!
As I was watching the arrival of Bishop Tom, I thought of the Tamil School! Most of us including our bishops commenced their education in the Tamil school including me! In my student days at the Tamil School, the school was under the management of the Society of Joseph Brothers! Their headquarter was in Batticaloa! The first principal was Brother Simon and later Brother Pedropillai! In my time Brother, Bernard was the Principal and he had two other brothers one was Brother Alex and he lived up to 100 years in Batticaloa and another brother! There were three other teachers namely Swampillai, father of Bishop Kingsley! His father was the class teacher for both of us! In that time we used slate and not exercise books! There were other two teachers! They were Gnanapragasam who was called Chatampiar! He was the Kindergarten teacher! The other one was Rasiah! His son became a priest in Batticaloa! The brothers were expelled from Jaffna and they returned to Batticaloa with regrets! Quite a few sent letters to the Bishop of Jaffna Guyomur! He was a French! But there were no acknowledge from the bishop to the persons who wrote letters to the bishop! They were a great loss to the Jaffna! As they were excellent administrators and teachers! Now the society does not exist! The excellent teacher at the Tamil school was Gnanapargasm as he was a teacher for few generations of children! Because he was the teacher who imparted the first lesson to the children! He might have taught our bishops as well!
St. Anthony’s College!
When I was observing the awaiting congregation, I saw the St. Anthony’s College! The building was well maintained! I was also a student at the college! All our eight bishops must have studied in the college as well! In my time there were not more than ten teachers! Now, of course, there are many teachers and the student population must be increased in numbers! In my time, the students used to walk from Velanai and Naranthanai! Also, some students from Karainager who used the ferry to come to Kayts! It may still the best college in Kayts!
When I joined the college Fr Joseph was the rector! After few months of me joining the college, he had an operation and passed away! He stayed in the St. Anthony’s church priest quarter! When he passed away Fr. William Jesudasan became a temporary rector at that time he was the parish priest as well! Eventually, Fr Arulnesan became the rector! Later Fr Karunakaran became the rector! At that time I left St. Anthony’s College to join St. Benedict’s College! Famous Tamil scholar Fr Xavier Thaninayagam also had his early education in St. Anthony’s College! The most popular teacher in my time was T.S. Arulanandam! He had a profound knowledge of English and Tamil! He was brother Jega's teacher and my teacher as well! In 1982, I visited Kayts and I met him! The first question he asked me was whether I could speak Tamil! So immediately I spoke to him in Tamil and he was delighted! He said most of the Tamils when they go abroad, they forget their mother tongue! But I said that I was not one of them! Later I visited B.M Master! He taught me history! I was joyous to meet the former teachers! I also had the opportunity to visit Chaddy and Sinnamadhu! In my student days, I walked to these churches! Further, my mother used to feed the pilgrims in Sinnamadhu on the festival day!
St. Benedict’s College!
Some of our East Street students were educated in St. Benedict’s College including me! Brother Jega was also a student with many of our relations! Brother Jega after on became a staff and editor of the college magazine! He also became a popular teacher in teaching English! But he taught few other subjects as well!
Our present church!
Our church is artistically and colorfully modified as well as renovated like a new church! When a person looks at the church from outside that person will always admire the beauty of the renovated church! All due to the miracles of St. Anthony!
Our Parishioners abroad and at home!
What made me joyous was the cheerful faces of the congregation! Also the hymn and singing! Here I congratulate and compliment all our parishioners who live at home and abroad who over generously contributed to renovate and decorate the church! The church was closed for worship for a year or more as it was in a dilapidated condition still with the financial contribution, our community has made the church a worship-able church! You all will be blessed by St. Anthony! The churches are built as an identity for communities! Our church will remain as an identity for our community! It is a miracle with the blessings to look back to our community! We were farmers who became seafarers! Now our community is engaged in various professions! All our members of the community are doing remarkably well and living in many countries in the West! I estimate that our East Street community consists of more than 100 families!
Summing up!
Because of the Internet, I was able to watch the entire celebration! I have described in my article, what I had observed! I did see few known faces but I can't remember their names! If I had made any mistakes, I offer my humble apology to you and you can correct me! I have not written this article with authority but with simplicity! I left the country over sixty years ago still I love Kayts as my village of birth! Of course, I visited briefly in 1982 and it was a memorable stay in Kayts! We may live abroad with affluence! Still East or West, home is the best! My mother used to say in one's own country a person is a swan and in a foreign country, that person is a crow! Like most of you, the circumstance has made me live in the West! Still, I think of myself as a human being born in a Pattikadu! My friend Nalin Swaris, a double doctorate used to say! "If you don't know, where you came from, you will never know where you are heading for!" I love to visit Kayts but my age prevents me from doing so! Still, my cherished memory of the land of birth will remain with me forever!
Sri Lankan Newspapers!
I was delighted that Sri Lankan Newspapers published articles about our bi-century celebration in the Catholic Messenger, Sunday Observer and Tamil newspaper Verakasari! Also widely commented on Facebook! Facebook has over 2.5 billion members! On the day of the celebration, only 69 viewers watched the service! Because of the YouTube, we can watch the celebration at any time!
Linus
[email protected]
12 September 2020.
16rh of August will go down in the history of our community as the historical day as well as the memorable event in our life! I would describe it as the magnificent glorification to our patron Saint Anthony and celebration to express our gratitude and thankfulness to our dear Bishop Tom! It was early hours of the morning still I glued my eyes to the iPad and watched the event with inexpressible joy! To our community and me, it was the rarest celebration of joy! To welcome Bishop Tom over 200 of the congregation was waiting outside the church in line to greet the bishop Tom. The East street community consisted of about seventy-five came from Colombo by a luxury coach and some came by car! There were few from Jaffna and the local residents of Kayts! The church was, of course, renovated outside and I found clean and neat. The outside appearance was excellent! The congregation was eagerly and enthusiastically awaiting with patience to welcome Bishop Tom! All of a sudden a white car stopped near St. Anthony’s College! Bishop Tom got off the car, walking slowly and gracefully towards the church being garlanded also escorted by the Bishop of Jaffna Justin and the parish priest amidst cheerful and joyous congregation! While young girls were dancing with lively music accompany the two bishops and the priests to the entrance of the church! At the entrance of the church, the bishops and the priests were welcomed in a Vedic traditional custom with Podu and Rosewater by ladies! This ritual is an ancient custom to cool the mind which I learnt from my class teacher T.S. Aruelanantham!
In the meantime, a brief commentary of the church from its origin was delivered by a lady in Tamil which was excellent! At the entrance of the church before entering inside the church, Bishops Tom and Justin blessed the church and entered the church! Bishop Justin in a short speech thanked the East Street Community for renovating the church! The congregation followed the bishops and priests! Inside of the church which was beautifully renovated with electricity and fans! Also, chairs for the congregation! In my teenager days, the congregation had to sit on the floor and some privileged class paid to sit on the seats on the left side of the church! Also, the tomb of Christ was on the side of the church was brought to the main part of the church!
I have been known to the church from my childhood! The church was remarkably designed and modified as the two side altars were removed and the main altar was brought forward! The main altar was colorfully, elegantly and gracefully decorated with natural flowers which were magnificently attractive for the congregation to look at the altar! After all, God is also described as beauty by our decoration we glorify our God and honor St. Anthony! There is a saying that Heaven and Earth meet in the church! The church was filled to the maximum capacity with the congregation and they spiritually participated in the celebration of the Holy Mass! The Holy Mass was concelebrated by the two bishops and priests! I really felt the holistic experience as it was celebrated in Tamil!
Bishop Justin delivered an excellent homily on religious diversity in faiths and unity and diversity in religions! He quoted the famous evangelist Billy Graham's Daughter! I had the opportunity to listen to Billy Graham in London and he was a remarkable speaker! The message of Bishop Justin was that God was waiting at the entrance of the church to greet us! Afterwards, Bishop Tom was greeted by practically by all the congregation and he was seated in front of the altar and greeted each and everyone with cheerfulness and a radiant smile! Right throughout the service excellent hymns were sung melodiously by the singing group! I did admire them! At the end of the Holy Mass few priests including the rector of St. Anthony’s College as well as the parish priest delivered excellent speeches in Tamil! and English! I really admired and appreciated their command of the languages! When all the service was over the East Street Community ladies magnificently and melodiously sung a song in honor of St. Anthony! Everyone who listened to them would have really enjoyed the musical talent of the ladies!
Brief History of St. Anthony’s church!
Originally the church was dedicated to St. Thomas and would have existed as a small church! During the time of the Dutch rule, they built many forts but they suppressed the Roman Catholicism not only in Sri Lanka but where they ruled in many parts of the world including in their motherland in the Netherlands! Hence many underground churches were built and some of them are still in use as I lived in the Netherlands for a year! I visited some of the churches! Because of the suppression by the Dutch many Catholic Statues were hidden in various places including the inside of the hollow of the trees! Our St. Anthony’s statue was hidden inside a tree and it was found by a woodcutter! He brought the statue to the priest thenceforth our church became St. Anthony’s church! So we are the proud parishioners of the St. Anthony of Padua! There is also a St. Anthony of Egypt! The original statue was stolen from the church!
As I watched the celebration, ceremony and the congregation with the bishops and priests, I thought about our forefathers who built the church over 200 years with a Herculean task! They built the church with dedication and labor of love for the devotion of St. Anthony and we are still worshipping in our church itself is a miracle! Our church and his shrine in Lisbon are also along the seacoasts! On my first voyage as a navigating officer, our ship was berth near the Shrine of St. Anthony and I visited the church without know that church was the first church dedicated to St. Anthony in Lisbon! Of course, he was born in Lisbon but his main Shrine is in Padua and I had the blessings of him to visit the Shrine twice and it is a well-maintained church!
I shall be failing in my duty if don't mention our three gentlemen who took care of the church! They were Thandal Natshastram, Anthonysamy and Udiar! They were the real custodians of the church in my teenage days! During the festival seasons, Anthonysamy used to provide gas lamps to illuminate the church with light! The twelve days festival commenced with a mast hoisting closer to the cross outside the church on the first June! Colorful Naval flags were hoisted with St. Anthony’s flag on the mainmast! At the twelve-day Novena to honor St. Anthony Viritham was sung with the mridangam played by one of the devotees! The highlight was the songs were sung and that time main altar was closed by a screen! With the blessings of St. Anthony, we have renovated the church as the best church in Jaffna and it is for us to maintain the church as a pilgrim church in Kayts! I state pilgrim church because Kayts has more than eight churches but Kayts is a deserted island!
Our Community!
In my opinion, we belong to an artistic and creative community! Our members of the community must have arrived from Tutukudi and settled down in Vanni in Mannar district as farmers! They cultivated many acres and had an excellent harvest! Whereas somehow, they moved to Chaddi! The proof was my second sister-in-law had few acres of paddy field in Mathortam in Vanni! Why they moved to Chaddi, I don't know? Perhaps our community might have built the church in Chaddi as well! but they were farmers in Chaddi! Our community did have few landed gentries! One was my Grandfather Kaithamthamby and Village headman Anthonymuthu! There may be few others whom I do not know! We may call ourselves seafaring community still the members of our community were in many other professions such as in the Government employment, My cousin brother Anthonipillai was a top civil servant, we had another Antonipillai who retired as Chief Postmaster of Jaffna, Soosaipillat who was a Station Master, Poet Karvaloor Karviger Selvarajah, Journalist, teacher and orator Joseph Jegarajasingham apart from monopolizing the Port of Colombo in various capacities as masters and mates as well as crew members! Our community had an artist and painter Anthonysamy who was a lighthouse keeper and another Marisalthamby Emmanuel who carved many statues they are still in few churches around the country!
Many years ago Kayts was a very prominent seaport with flourishing trade and employment opportunities! So they moved to East Street to grab the opportunities to find wage-earning employment! In the meantime, they became interested in sailing and sailed on ships to Burma where ships loaded rice and paddy for Sri Lanka! By sailing on ships most of our members gained sea experience to become masters and mates without qualification with experience! They were remarkable seafarers! There were three or four sailing ships which were engaged in the trade! I also have reason to believe that one ship sailed to the United States on the sail! I think sailing to the United States was a remarkable achievement! I don't know which route they followed perhaps they might have sailed via Cape of Good Hope in Africa! Sailing via Cape of Good Hope was a dangerous and perilous voyage which the famous explorer Vasco da Gama sailed to the Far East! I can remember two sailing ships anchored off Karainager! One was "Annapurani" and another was "Mahaluxmi" As a child, I boarded on one of the ships! To climb on board my Godfather Athisayam gave me a piggyback as I had to hold him tightly while he was climbing on board! During the SW Monsoon, there was no sailing hence the ships were anchored and the crew used to make ropes from the coconut fiber along the Kayts side of the coast!
In the meantime, the Sri Lankan Government under the British rule introduced Coastwise Competency Examination for the seafarers with sea experiences! Many of our members of the East Street Community sat for the examination became Masters and Mates in the tugboats and few worked as ordinary crew members! Now the tide has changed but less and fewer members of our community work on tugboats! Some of the prominent masters and mates were Captains Williams, Benedict, Rajamuthu, Mark Sevapragasm, Lawrence, Anthonysamy, Ariyanayagam, Edmund Aloysius, Thanam Sevapragasm, J F Xavier and many others whom I can't recollect! There were engineers as well some of them namely Richard and Norbert!
Bishop Tom!
We are proud of Bishop Tom who is the member of the East Street Community who is my friend, relation, classmate and we were altar boys during the time of Fr. Benedict and Fr. Philip Ponniah! He was a clever, intelligent and cheerful boy whom Fr Ponniah found him suitable for the priesthood along with Hilary of the West Street! He never thought that Tom will become a bishop and would become his superior but it had happened! Fr Ponniah must have rejoiced Tom's quantum leap to the risen position of a bishop!
In his student days, we used to visit his home to listen to music as he had a gramophone which was HMV manually operated! His parents and two sisters were well known to me! His father was a Captain of a Shell Company barge! His name was Emmanuel! His mother was a devoted lady of virtue! Her name was Saveriachi! His sisters were sincerely friendly with everyone! His eldest sister Malar lives with her husband Bonjean in the United States! The other sister was Indra! He is a grandfather and a great grandfather! One niece lives in Colombo and all other nieces and nephews live in the United States! They built the Grotto in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes! The Grotto is still strong and not damaged is a miracle! Because it was built with affection and devotion to Mother Mary!
His mother and his sister Indra when returning from a pilgrimage to Madhu, the train was derailed! Mother and daughter had a tragic death! An emergency operation was performed on the spot for Indra! She did not survive! To this day, nobody knows, why it happened! It was one of the rarest tragedies happened in Sri Lanka! This tragic incident affected him to become more Holistic in life!
When I saw Bishop Tom getting off the car and walking towards the church accompanied by the bishop of Jaffna Justin and other priests, I thought of Shakespeare's" Seven ages of man!" He walked gracefully and cheerfully amid the cheering congregation and dancing teenage girls! I don't think any of us will forget this memorable event! After the service, I saw him cheerfully and joyfully chatting with many of our relations and friends!
Our forefathers originally settled down in Mannar and Bishop Tom was the first bishop of Mannar was the rarest coincidence and he was popular with everyone in the Mannar district! He was of course selected as the bishop when he was studying in the Vatican! It is the smallest state in the world with 0.44 square kilometers with nearly 700 residents of the international community but no one is permanent still the most powerful state in the world!
I left Kayts in 1953 to join St. Benedict's College and the same year Bishop Tom joined the Martian Seminary in Jaffna! Since then I greeted him once or twice in Colombo walking with his father wearing white shorts and a white shirt! I believe that he was ordained as a priest in 1963 and celebrated his first Holy Mass in Kayts! Later he served as a parish priests in various parishes in Jaffna! I totally lost contact with him! In 1978, my wife Chitra visited Canada and the United States! She met him in New York! Over the phone said that she has surprising news for me! She said " I met your relation Fr. Tom! She got his telephone number and that was how I was reconnected with Bishop Tom! Both of us visited him in the Vatican and he took us on mini tour of the Vatican and Rome! He took us inside St. Peter’s church and I was able to see the Michelangelo’s masterpiece "Pieta" At that time there was no security and we were able to walk around freely in the Vatican! Later he visited London thrice and once as a Bishop! When he visited as Bishop, we had Edward Benedict in London with his family! So we had a get-together dinner in Anton Benedict's house! It was a joyous evening with him! Again Anton and him were altar boys with me at the St. Anthony’s church! Reviving the past was also a joyous reminisce in life! At that time we were teenagers but now we're adults!
The second time I visited him in the Vatican! By then he knew that he was appointed to be the Bishop of Mannar! It was the day of celebration as it was the feast of St. Peter and Paul! So I was with his fellow students and director, I was introduced to his director and had dinner with them! It was an enjoyable evening with all the priests and all were PhDs! I spent the night in the Vatican and travelled by train to Padua to visit the Shrine of St. Anthony! It was an interesting and enriching journey with him as he talked about his stay in the Vatican and his visit to Israel and Egypt to do his research! His admiration for the President of Egypt Sadat as his courage to visit Israel to seek peace! He visited the Holy Land as well for his research! We spent the night in Padua and we visited Venice! We walked along the St. Mark’s Square and discovered some parts of Venice! We saw many Gondolas but we never crossed the waterways on it as there were plenty of bridges! to cross over! Again it was too dark for us to go for a jolly ride as well on the Gondolas! Next day Bishop Tom celebrated the Holy Mass at the main altar in Italian and delivered a homily in Italian!
Afterwards, we proceeded to Milan as he had few friends! Since it was a farewell to Milan trip, we had an excellent celebration organized by his priest friends! We really enjoyed our stay with them as they gave us a VIP treatment as they affectionately and sincerely honored us! We spent the night in Milan and the next day, we said goodbye to each other at the Milan Rail Station! He joined the train to Rome and I joined the train to Bologna! His stay in the Vatican also came to an end! He did invite me to the consecration!
He was the long-serving Bishop in Sri Lanka as he was a Bishop for 34 years! He will go down in the history of Sri Lankan bishops as a brave and courageous bishop who confronted many crises with the Government and Freedom fighters! He diplomatically, cautiously and tactfully dealt with everyone! he became friendly with the soldiers and they lovingly began to address him as "Apai Bishop!" During the crisis era, he gave excellent interviews to the foreign reporters! They were very honest interviews with emotion and feeling further he described the events in brilliant vocabulary and the language of the poets! I read most of them and I am writing from my memory!
He is, of course, an orator in English and in Tamil!! Also fluent in German and Italian! He is one of the widely travelled bishops among the Sri Lankan bishops! He visited few times as a Bishop to celebrate the Holy Mass in Walsingham which is the national shrine of England! First, he first visited Walsingham, Dr. Rita Saverimuthu, Anton Benedict and I, participated in the pilgrimage Holy Mass! Whenever he visited London, Anton Benedict and I used to visit him in the Sri Lankan Chaplaincy Centre! Last time I met him; he gave me a copy of his published diary! In his diary, he wrote about his travel in Jaffna peninsula during the time of crisis! It was well written with full of information about the hardships and struggle of the inhabitants of the Jaffna peninsula! It was interesting for me to read that he travelled by ship as well!
After his retirement, he published a diary about his life as a bishop in Jaffna during the turbulence history of the Tamils! It was full of information about his struggle and travel! He even sailed on ships! All in all, he confronted defeat, victory, struggles, pain and disasters like a boy standing on the burning deck he was bravely tolerated all the calamities! He was always confident and cheerful in his attitudes towards life! As a bishop, he travelled to Germany, United States, Canada and the UK to celebrate Holy Masses! Wherever he visited he had VIP treatment with affection and friendship!
I end my appreciation with the quote from William Shakespeare! Some are born great! Some achieve greatness! Some have greatness thrust upon them! He achieved his greatness by his simplicity with humility and cheerfulness! He never dreamt of becoming a bishop! But all happened to him as a miracle! I am proud of him as he was my classmate!
East Street Religious Community!
Our first priest was Fr Victor Rajanayaham! When I was a child, he was ordained as a priest and I can remember the joyous celebration accorded to him by our members of the community! It was a unique celebration and at the function, melodious song s were composed to honor him! I can remember some lines of the songs and my brother Jega used to sing them for me, he was a teenager at that time but he had photographic memory! Next one our Bishop Tom! Now we have another young priest among us who is Fr. Jude! He is also a clever and intelligent priest who worked as a priest in Pakistan and few other countries! I had the joy of meeting him in London! I really admire his humility and simplicity with cheerfulness and humor!
We still have two nuns who still active! One is Sister Neomi and the other one is Sister Mary Kamala, Srinathan's daughter I do know Sister Neomi from her childhood days! About a quarter-century ago, she attended my nephew Cassian's wedding in the St. Lucias's church! After the service I was waiting outside, she came to me and asked me whether I have seen Linus! With a smile, I said "I am Linus" Thenceforth we were reunited and met her few times! I also visited her convent! Her order is called the "Charity of the Poor" But their residence is a posh area! She works as a social worker with the tea plantation workers and she is doing an excellent service to them! Life is hard but she renders her service with joy! Once she told me, a snake was under her bed! I was terrified to listen to her story! According to my mother and Godmother, my pram was surrounded by a snake and I was inside! Srinathan was a Church pillar as he was a devoted Roman Catholic! He daughter is a clever nun who became a teacher and was also a principal in a convent! Now after retirement, she works in a tea estate as a social worker! I don't know how far the information is correct!
We did have two of our relations who were in the Seminary and left priesthood! One was Station Master's son whom we used to call him as Libby! He was in the Martin Seminary in Jaffna and left after two or three years! Another one was Edward Benedict! He was in the Ampitya Seminary in Kandy! He left after few years! Later he lived in New York as a teacher! I don't know, what made them leave the priesthood but in those days priesthood training was highly disciplined Anton Benedict and myself were to join the seminary but it did not happen! Both of us, visited the Bishop House to meet Bishop Emmalinus with Fr Benedict who was our parish priest at that time but the bishop was away! I don't know whose luck or blessings!
Bishop Justin!
He is not a stranger to our church as he was educated in St. Anthony’s College as a student and as a child as well as a teenager he must have attended service in our church with his parents! I met his parents and his Grandma also his brother in London! I spoke to him when he visited the Netherlands to participate in our pilgrimage to Banu in Belgium! He was educated in London and I do have his PhD thesis but so far I have not read it! His homily was excellent as he spoke about the religious unity in diversity! He quoted the famous Evangelist Billy Graham's daughter! His message was God is waiting for us at the entrance of the church! I believe church is the meeting place of Heaven and Earth! I express my sincere gratitude and joyous thankfulness to him for consecrating the church along with Bishop Tom and his brotherly priests! Also honoring Bishop Tom!
Parish Priests and other participating priests!
I have not forgotten the parish priest and his fellow priests including the rector of St. Anthony’s College! I thank all of them for their brilliant speeches in English and Tamil! Also, Fr Mayooran for all the preparation he made for the celebration to make it a successful momentous event in the history of Jaffna Catholic Diocese!
Hymns and music!
The choir team was excellent in singing as the music was lively and melodious as it uplifted the spirit of the congregation! At the end of the service, our community women sang a hymn in honor of St. Anthony and it was old hymn! It was absolutely magnificent! Because they were full of joy in singing! Please remember the music can enrich our heart and mind as it is the food inspirational and spiritual love!
St. Anthony’sTamil School!
As I was watching the arrival of Bishop Tom, I thought of the Tamil School! Most of us including our bishops commenced their education in the Tamil school including me! In my student days at the Tamil School, the school was under the management of the Society of Joseph Brothers! Their headquarter was in Batticaloa! The first principal was Brother Simon and later Brother Pedropillai! In my time Brother, Bernard was the Principal and he had two other brothers one was Brother Alex and he lived up to 100 years in Batticaloa and another brother! There were three other teachers namely Swampillai, father of Bishop Kingsley! His father was the class teacher for both of us! In that time we used slate and not exercise books! There were other two teachers! They were Gnanapragasam who was called Chatampiar! He was the Kindergarten teacher! The other one was Rasiah! His son became a priest in Batticaloa! The brothers were expelled from Jaffna and they returned to Batticaloa with regrets! Quite a few sent letters to the Bishop of Jaffna Guyomur! He was a French! But there were no acknowledge from the bishop to the persons who wrote letters to the bishop! They were a great loss to the Jaffna! As they were excellent administrators and teachers! Now the society does not exist! The excellent teacher at the Tamil school was Gnanapargasm as he was a teacher for few generations of children! Because he was the teacher who imparted the first lesson to the children! He might have taught our bishops as well!
St. Anthony’s College!
When I was observing the awaiting congregation, I saw the St. Anthony’s College! The building was well maintained! I was also a student at the college! All our eight bishops must have studied in the college as well! In my time there were not more than ten teachers! Now, of course, there are many teachers and the student population must be increased in numbers! In my time, the students used to walk from Velanai and Naranthanai! Also, some students from Karainager who used the ferry to come to Kayts! It may still the best college in Kayts!
When I joined the college Fr Joseph was the rector! After few months of me joining the college, he had an operation and passed away! He stayed in the St. Anthony’s church priest quarter! When he passed away Fr. William Jesudasan became a temporary rector at that time he was the parish priest as well! Eventually, Fr Arulnesan became the rector! Later Fr Karunakaran became the rector! At that time I left St. Anthony’s College to join St. Benedict’s College! Famous Tamil scholar Fr Xavier Thaninayagam also had his early education in St. Anthony’s College! The most popular teacher in my time was T.S. Arulanandam! He had a profound knowledge of English and Tamil! He was brother Jega's teacher and my teacher as well! In 1982, I visited Kayts and I met him! The first question he asked me was whether I could speak Tamil! So immediately I spoke to him in Tamil and he was delighted! He said most of the Tamils when they go abroad, they forget their mother tongue! But I said that I was not one of them! Later I visited B.M Master! He taught me history! I was joyous to meet the former teachers! I also had the opportunity to visit Chaddy and Sinnamadhu! In my student days, I walked to these churches! Further, my mother used to feed the pilgrims in Sinnamadhu on the festival day!
St. Benedict’s College!
Some of our East Street students were educated in St. Benedict’s College including me! Brother Jega was also a student with many of our relations! Brother Jega after on became a staff and editor of the college magazine! He also became a popular teacher in teaching English! But he taught few other subjects as well!
Our present church!
Our church is artistically and colorfully modified as well as renovated like a new church! When a person looks at the church from outside that person will always admire the beauty of the renovated church! All due to the miracles of St. Anthony!
Our Parishioners abroad and at home!
What made me joyous was the cheerful faces of the congregation! Also the hymn and singing! Here I congratulate and compliment all our parishioners who live at home and abroad who over generously contributed to renovate and decorate the church! The church was closed for worship for a year or more as it was in a dilapidated condition still with the financial contribution, our community has made the church a worship-able church! You all will be blessed by St. Anthony! The churches are built as an identity for communities! Our church will remain as an identity for our community! It is a miracle with the blessings to look back to our community! We were farmers who became seafarers! Now our community is engaged in various professions! All our members of the community are doing remarkably well and living in many countries in the West! I estimate that our East Street community consists of more than 100 families!
Summing up!
Because of the Internet, I was able to watch the entire celebration! I have described in my article, what I had observed! I did see few known faces but I can't remember their names! If I had made any mistakes, I offer my humble apology to you and you can correct me! I have not written this article with authority but with simplicity! I left the country over sixty years ago still I love Kayts as my village of birth! Of course, I visited briefly in 1982 and it was a memorable stay in Kayts! We may live abroad with affluence! Still East or West, home is the best! My mother used to say in one's own country a person is a swan and in a foreign country, that person is a crow! Like most of you, the circumstance has made me live in the West! Still, I think of myself as a human being born in a Pattikadu! My friend Nalin Swaris, a double doctorate used to say! "If you don't know, where you came from, you will never know where you are heading for!" I love to visit Kayts but my age prevents me from doing so! Still, my cherished memory of the land of birth will remain with me forever!
Sri Lankan Newspapers!
I was delighted that Sri Lankan Newspapers published articles about our bi-century celebration in the Catholic Messenger, Sunday Observer and Tamil newspaper Verakasari! Also widely commented on Facebook! Facebook has over 2.5 billion members! On the day of the celebration, only 69 viewers watched the service! Because of the YouTube, we can watch the celebration at any time!
Linus
[email protected]
12 September 2020.