Sanctuary of Our Lady of Madhu
The great national Marian sanctuary of Sri Lanka, with more than three and a half centuries of documented history, is raised in a forest clearing in the Mannar district. The image, formerly venerated in Mantai as Our Lady of Good Health, was put to safety in Madhu in 1670 by twenty Catholic families fleeing the Dutch persecution, and since then the Virgin has not stopped gathering her people there.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- In 1670, twenty Catholic families fled Mantai with the image of the Virgin to free her from the Dutch persecution; in the forest of Madhu they were joined by seven hundred faithful from Jaffna, and the sanctuary was born from that shelter.
- St. Joseph Vaz, the apostle of Ceylon, held the faith of that persecuted community; the present church began to rise in 1870 and was consecrated in 1944. The image received the canonical coronation on July 2, 1924, under Pius XI, with a previous decree of Benedict XV (1921).
- During the civil war (1983-2009) the sanctuary was declared a zone of peace and served as a refuge for thousands of displaced persons of all religions; Tamils and Sinhales, Catholics, Hindus and Buddhists continue to pilgrim together the common Mother.
- Three popes have traveled to Madhu: Paul VI in 1970, John Paul II in 1995 and Francis on January 14, 2015, when he prayed to the Virgin with hundreds of thousands of faithful as a gesture of reconciliation after the war.
Our Lady of Madhu
The Madhu shrine is the Marian heart of Sri Lanka: a saved image of the persecution in 1670, canonically crowned in 1924 and turned into a refuge of peace during the civil war. Every August, in the Assumption, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the island come to the Mother who never left them.
"Our Lady of Madhu, the refuge of the persecuted and the Mother of peace, pray for us.
Is the advocation of the Virgin Mary of your people missing?
Si no encuentras la advocación mariana de tu ciudad o pueblo, cuéntanosla: la investigaremos para ubicarla y darla a conocer en este mapa del amor de la Madre por el mundo.
Propose an apvocation →