Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka
The Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka is a Roman Catholic church in Tewatta Ragama, a suburb of Colombo , the capital of Sri Lanka . The pilgrimage church belonging to the Archdiocese of Colombo is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and has the status of a national shrine and a minor basilica .
history
In 1911 a small chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes was built in Tewatta, to which a small grotto was added in 1917. The chapel was enlarged in the following years and a large grotto replaced the previous one in the late 1930s.
After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, there was a risk of destruction by the Japanese armed forces. On May 26, 1940, Jean-Marie Masson , Archbishop of Colombo, made a vow to the Virgin Mary that a new church would be built if the country would be spared the horrors of war. On Easter Sunday 1942, several ships were sunk in the bombing of the port of Colombo, but the city was not significantly damaged. After the war, the foundation stone was laid in 1950, but the completion of the church under Thomas Cardinal Cooray , who was also buried in the crypt of the basilica, did not take place until 1974, a year after Pope Paul VI. had given the church the status of a minor basilica.
Another Lourdes grotto from 1959, carved out of stone, is now on display in the basilica.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official website for the basilica
- ↑ Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka at gcatholic.org
Coordinates: 7 ° 2 ′ 1.6 ″ N , 79 ° 56 ′ 6.5 ″ E