The highly venerated statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as ‘Our Lady of Madhu’, was removed from one of Sri Lanka's most revered catholic shrines for the first time in more than four centuries because of intensifying fighting.
Meanwhile the Sacred Heart Church in the Madhu Shrine complex was completely destroyed by Sri Lankan Army shelling.
Bishop of Mannar, Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, told TamilNet Thursday that he had instructed the remaining four reverend priests, four reverend sisters and five civilian assistants to flee the premises of the Madhu Church with the statue of Our Lady.
"This is the first time Our Lady of Madhu becomes refugee in her own land," the Mannar Bishop said. "She has been giving shelter to IDPs. In 1990, she gave shelter to 36,000 IDPs."
Bishop Rayappu Joesph has instructed the priests to relocate the statue to a safer area together with them. The statue was taken from the Madhu shrine by three priests to Thevayanpiddy in Vellankumam for its protection, Bishop Joseph said.
Thevayanpiddy is situated along the coastal Road to Jaffna from Mannar.
The bishop of Mannar said people who were sheltering at the shrine had also fled and referring to the statue he said "our lady had to go with them"
“We are going to take it to a safer location, we cannot allow it to remain there as it is our treasure,” he said.
"We asked the government to declare Madhu as a war free zone. The president agreed but it was not given in writing. If the government has agreed to have a peace zone then I think the LTTE would have honoured it. This is what TamilSelvan told me and Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith", said the Bishop.
The Sacred Heart Church was destroyed in Sri Lanka Army shelling after the priests had taken away the statue of Our Lady of Madhu last Thursday, reveal photographs taken by K. Baskaran, a photographer who visited the church on Sunday.
"Any desecration of Madhu is likely to be understood as an effort of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism to erase out the symbols of other religions and thus serving a spiritual blow which is the most dreaded stage in the process of ethnic cleansing," Vanni District Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanathan told TamilNet Tuesday.
"The social and cultural formation of Tamil Christianity, especially the Tamil Catholicism, is about 500-years old. Madu Church is the foremost symbol of this phenomenon. It is also looked upon with the same feeling by the Sinhala Catholicism of the western coast which was once part of the Tamil Catholic identity," the MP, who is a Catholic hailing from Vidaththaltheevu in Mannar, told TamilNet.
This is the second time the Sacred Heart Chapel comes under SLA attack, the MP said.
None years ago, on 20th November, 1999, Sri Lanka Army troops, numbering around 300, who had taken up positions in the environs of Madhu church allegedly fired shells from their tanks, killing 33 Tamil refugees on the spot inside the Sacred Heart Chapel. Four victims died later at the hospital, among the more than 60 wounded. Twelve of the killed were children below 18. More than 3000 IDPs had taken refuge in the precincts of Madhu shrine at that time.
Two months ago, on 29 January 2008, 20 civilians including 11 school children were killed when Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit triggered off a claymore mine target a civilian bus close to the Madhu shrine.
The shrine at Madhu is a pilgrimage site for over six percent of Sri Lanka's Catholics. But now the statue of the Virgin Mary they travel there to venerate has been taken away for the first time in more than four hundred years.
Bishop Joseph said there had been intense shelling in the area and the priests had spent the day in bunkers.
Rev. Fr. Administrator Emilianus Pillai, Rev. Fr. Assistant Administrator E. Sebamalai, Parish Priest of Vangkaalai Rev. Fr. Antony Gnanapragasam, Vavuniya Komarasangkulam Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Antony Sagayam and four Reverend Sisters left the Shrine's premises according to Bishop's House.
Speaking to the BBC correspondent in Colombo, the Military spokesman confirmed that the troops are positioned about two kilometres from Madhu church.
The military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara insisted the army was not shelling the shrine and the Tamil Tigers must be responsible for the firing.
"We don't know whether we can come back and even if we come back Madhu shrine may be turned to rubble. That is the way both sides are fighting. If the Sri Lanka army does not decide to take a different route from Pandivirichchan instead of going through Madhu there will be total destruction". The Bishop says.
According to estimated statistics, about 30,000 internally displaced people were living in Mannar District last year, reported the Daily Mirror. Of that number 10,000 to 15,000 were reportedly living in the No-War Zone reserved for the historic Madhu Church.
By March 2008 only 700 IDPs were believed to be living in Madhu area. It is believed that they, too, have now left the area, the paper said.
According to military sources, many IDPs had moved to Maanthai West, about 30 kilometers from Madhu, the Daily Mirror siad. An estimated 14,000 IDPs are believed to have settled in Maanthai after the mass exodus.
Meanwhile the Sacred Heart Church in the Madhu Shrine complex was completely destroyed by Sri Lankan Army shelling.
Bishop of Mannar, Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, told TamilNet Thursday that he had instructed the remaining four reverend priests, four reverend sisters and five civilian assistants to flee the premises of the Madhu Church with the statue of Our Lady.
"This is the first time Our Lady of Madhu becomes refugee in her own land," the Mannar Bishop said. "She has been giving shelter to IDPs. In 1990, she gave shelter to 36,000 IDPs."
Bishop Rayappu Joesph has instructed the priests to relocate the statue to a safer area together with them. The statue was taken from the Madhu shrine by three priests to Thevayanpiddy in Vellankumam for its protection, Bishop Joseph said.
Thevayanpiddy is situated along the coastal Road to Jaffna from Mannar.
The bishop of Mannar said people who were sheltering at the shrine had also fled and referring to the statue he said "our lady had to go with them"
“We are going to take it to a safer location, we cannot allow it to remain there as it is our treasure,” he said.
"We asked the government to declare Madhu as a war free zone. The president agreed but it was not given in writing. If the government has agreed to have a peace zone then I think the LTTE would have honoured it. This is what TamilSelvan told me and Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith", said the Bishop.
The Sacred Heart Church was destroyed in Sri Lanka Army shelling after the priests had taken away the statue of Our Lady of Madhu last Thursday, reveal photographs taken by K. Baskaran, a photographer who visited the church on Sunday.
"Any desecration of Madhu is likely to be understood as an effort of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism to erase out the symbols of other religions and thus serving a spiritual blow which is the most dreaded stage in the process of ethnic cleansing," Vanni District Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanathan told TamilNet Tuesday.
"The social and cultural formation of Tamil Christianity, especially the Tamil Catholicism, is about 500-years old. Madu Church is the foremost symbol of this phenomenon. It is also looked upon with the same feeling by the Sinhala Catholicism of the western coast which was once part of the Tamil Catholic identity," the MP, who is a Catholic hailing from Vidaththaltheevu in Mannar, told TamilNet.
This is the second time the Sacred Heart Chapel comes under SLA attack, the MP said.
None years ago, on 20th November, 1999, Sri Lanka Army troops, numbering around 300, who had taken up positions in the environs of Madhu church allegedly fired shells from their tanks, killing 33 Tamil refugees on the spot inside the Sacred Heart Chapel. Four victims died later at the hospital, among the more than 60 wounded. Twelve of the killed were children below 18. More than 3000 IDPs had taken refuge in the precincts of Madhu shrine at that time.
Two months ago, on 29 January 2008, 20 civilians including 11 school children were killed when Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit triggered off a claymore mine target a civilian bus close to the Madhu shrine.
The shrine at Madhu is a pilgrimage site for over six percent of Sri Lanka's Catholics. But now the statue of the Virgin Mary they travel there to venerate has been taken away for the first time in more than four hundred years.
Bishop Joseph said there had been intense shelling in the area and the priests had spent the day in bunkers.
Rev. Fr. Administrator Emilianus Pillai, Rev. Fr. Assistant Administrator E. Sebamalai, Parish Priest of Vangkaalai Rev. Fr. Antony Gnanapragasam, Vavuniya Komarasangkulam Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Antony Sagayam and four Reverend Sisters left the Shrine's premises according to Bishop's House.
Speaking to the BBC correspondent in Colombo, the Military spokesman confirmed that the troops are positioned about two kilometres from Madhu church.
The military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara insisted the army was not shelling the shrine and the Tamil Tigers must be responsible for the firing.
"We don't know whether we can come back and even if we come back Madhu shrine may be turned to rubble. That is the way both sides are fighting. If the Sri Lanka army does not decide to take a different route from Pandivirichchan instead of going through Madhu there will be total destruction". The Bishop says.
According to estimated statistics, about 30,000 internally displaced people were living in Mannar District last year, reported the Daily Mirror. Of that number 10,000 to 15,000 were reportedly living in the No-War Zone reserved for the historic Madhu Church.
By March 2008 only 700 IDPs were believed to be living in Madhu area. It is believed that they, too, have now left the area, the paper said.
According to military sources, many IDPs had moved to Maanthai West, about 30 kilometers from Madhu, the Daily Mirror siad. An estimated 14,000 IDPs are believed to have settled in Maanthai after the mass exodus.
