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Courtesy: Daily News, January 14, 2003 By W.T.A. Leslie, Fernando The death anniversary of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody OMI, the well-known Catholic priest, musician, poet, lyricist, author, journalist and patriot falls on January 15. A household name in our country, no other Catholic prelate or priest of our times has touched the hearts and lives of people in Sri Lanka than Fr. Marcelline Jayakody. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody led an eventful life replete with ups and downs. He was stronger in defeat and all his defeats later turned out to be victories. He had the Midas touch and everything he handled turned into gold. He lived long till the ripe old age of 96 and passed away on January 15, 1998.
Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was born on June 3, 1902 at Dankotuwa on the outskirts of Maha Oya. His mother was a Buddhist converted to Christianity with her marriage. Nevertheless while being a Catholic she had not given up her simple and serene way of life guided and moulded by Buddhism. His father was a native physician who was not bent on making money. He too led a simple and contented life within his means akin to a Buddhist outlook. With such a background and upbringing it was natural for Fr. Marcelline Jayakody even as a Catholic priest to be drawn to Buddhist culture, the Buddhist temple and Buddhist prelates and take pride of being called "Pansale Piyathuma" (Catholic priest of the Buddhist temple). Education Fr. Marcelline Jayakody had his early education at Madampe Sinhala School and secondary education at St. Joseph's College, Colombo. In 1920, he entered St. Bernard's Seminary and was ordained a priest on December 20, 1927 by Dr. Anthony Coudert, the then Archbishop of Colombo. In the beginning of the 20th century, slavishly imitating the West was the order of the day. At the same time there was a national resurgence led by the patriots like Anagarika Dharmapala, Walisinghe Harischandra, John de Silva and Piyadasa Sirisena. The higher strata in society who aped the Britishers were severely criticised by the well-known novelist Piyadasa Sirisena. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody who always had the love for the country in his veins too was attracted to the stirrings of nationalism. He read the novels of Piyadasa Sirisena with interest and drew inspiration from his writings. As a young priest Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was criticised in the church circles for offering some lotus flowers at the sanctuary at the wedding mass of one of his relatives. Since then much water has flowed under the bridges in Sri Lanka. Now the national culture is given its due place in the church. And Fr. Marcelline Jayakody is now considered as an exponent of indigenous culture. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody served as an assistant parish priest in Kotahena, Pamunugama, Kochchikade (Negombo) and Kandana. He served as the parish priest in Paiyagala, Duwa, Katana and Maggona. As the parish priest he gave the altar a national aura bedecking it with Gokkola and Ralipalam. When Fr. Marcelline Jayakody became the parish priest of Duwa, the Duwa Passion Play was performed with images of sacred personages based on the centuries old nine sermons in the "Dukprapthi Prasangaya" written by Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez. Tradition At that time no one dared to engage human actors in passion plays in churches. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody boldly broke with the tradition. He got human actors for all the scenes except for Christ and Mary. He revised and recast the play while maintaining the traditional outlook. He also composed all the hymns in addition to the traditional "Pasan". Since then the fame of the Duwa passion play spread far and wide. At that time, the colourful Duwa passion play, performed with over 250 actors, all drawn from the island hamlet of Duwa was considered as the greatest passion show in Asia. The greatest contribution Fr. Marcelline Jayakody has made to the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is in the sphere of church music. In the 1920s, the normal practice was to dub Sinhala words to Latin hymns and Western melodies. Accordingly, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody too wrote some hymns specially carols adopting Western melodies. In 1934, he composed the hymn "Sapiri Sama - Asiri Soma" and the Christmas carol "Raya Tharu Babalanawa" set to his own music. These hymns became very popular and are still sung in churches. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody never looked back and began to compose hymns set to his own music. In the 1940s and 1950s specially around independence there was a national renaissance in Sri Lanka. This national consciousness had its effect on the Catholic church as well. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody too began to compose outstanding hymns like "Ronata Vadina Bingu Obay", "Nelum Pipeela Pethi Visireela" and "Suvanda Jale Pipi Kumudiniye" with a national fervour. These magnificent hymns with their superb lyrics, sweet music and local setting captivated the hearts of all. They contain both Christian aspects and national sentiments and are a classic example for cultural adaptation in its true perspective. Fantastic In 1949, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was invited to train the choir for the song "Namo Namo Matha" for the first independence celebrations as the composer Ananda Samarakoone had gone abroad. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody rose to the occasion, trained the students of Musaeus College and presented it to be acclaimed by all. There is no doubt that this fantastic performance had paved the way to adopt "Namo Namo Matha" later as our national anthem. In late 1949, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was appointed the Editor of "Gnanartha Pradeepaya", the official Catholic Sinhala weekly in Sri Lanka. He increased the pages from 8 to 12 and introduced new features with an indigenous outlook. It was Fr. Marcelline Jayakody who designed the masthead of "Gnanartha Pradeepaya" in a traditional setting. This is still being continued. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody could not stay long in "Gnanartha pradeepaya". The authorities insisted he should closely follow the English Catholic weekly the "Messenger" and present news and articles in it. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody refused and left "Gnanartha Pradeepaya" for Shanthinikethan in India. Today "Gnanartha Pradeepaya has a distinct identity and the stand of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody is vindicated. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody underwent some training at Shanthinikethan, the famous oriental arts centre set up by Rabindranath Tagore. When Fr. Marcelline Jayakody returned to the island, he was sent to Jaffna for leaving the country without the permission of the church authorities. He made use of his stay in Jaffna to make a study of Hindu religion and Tamil culture. Hindu culture While in Jaffna, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody wrote a series of articles to Times of Ceylon on Hindu culture, simple and serene life of people and beauty of Jaffna. He also presented a passion play with the students of St. Patrick's College, Jaffna. The film "Rekawa" presented by Lester James Peries in 1956 was a landmark in Sinhala cinema. It was the first Sinhala film with a real indigenous outlook and it won several international awards. Lester James Peries got Fr. Marcelline Jayakody to write lyrics for songs in Rekawa and Sunil Shantha to provide music for them. At a poll conducted in the Sunday Observer Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was selected as the leading personality in the film world for his fascinating lyrics in Rekawa. Dr. W. Dahanaike, the then Minister of Education who presented the award said "If I could write a single song like this, I consider it a greater achievement than being a Minister." In the 1970s, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was carrying a column in the Catholic weekly, the "Messenger". He wrote it for four years and continued it even when he was abroad. In 1976, his popular column was suddenly discontinued over a controversial article. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody instead wrote a series of poems to the "Kaviya" magazine on Sinhala Buddhist culture. Poems His work "Muthu" was a collection of poems carried in "Kaviya". "Muthu" won Fr. Marcelline Jayakody Presidential Award for the best poetry work in 1979 and famous international award, Magsaysay Prize 1983. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody has presented many other prose and poetry works in both in Sinhala and in English. A well-known journalist, he often carried columns in both Catholic and secular press. For many decades until his death he was the President of the Sinhala Poets' Association. In view of the magnificent contributions of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, he is called "Modern Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez". However Fr. Marcelline Jayakody did not like the title when he was living. He resented it explaning that he always thought and wrote in Sinhala. An enthusiastic member of the "Hela Havula" Fr. Marcelline Jayakody preferred pure Sinhala words rather than mixed language. This is evident when we compare his compositions with those of Fr. Gonsalvez. The language in the hymns of Fr. Gonsalvez is high flown with many Sanskrit and Tamil words. The music is somewhat monotonous. A majority of his hymns are not intelligible to the average educated. The hymns of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody are simple and close to people. They are appealing both to the intellect and the average. They are appreciated even by non-Catholics. Most of the popular hymns sung in churches today are compositions of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody. Conversions Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez did everything in Sri Lanka to convert people to Christianity. In "Budubana Prathyakshaya" he attacks Buddhism and condemns it as a pagan religion. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was different. In his work "Muthu" Fr. Marcelline Jayakody extols Buddhism and Buddhist culture. He likes to see Buddhism further consolidated in Sri Lanka rather than converting people to Christianity. It is clearly seen from the poem titled "Vehera" in Muthu. Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez used subtle modes in his missionary work. He presented curios and specially made sweets to the Kings of Kandy to win over their goodwill for his activities. He associated Buddhist monks to learn Sinhala and at the same time wished to convert them to Christianity if possible. He once converted a Buddhist monk and sent him abroad on the sly. The Buddhist monks in Kandy led by Ven. Welivita Sri Saranankara Sangharaja Thera resisted the activities of Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez and protested about them to King Vijaya Rajasinghe. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody always won the accolades of the Maha Sangha. They always appreciated his outstanding cultural achievements and helped him in so many ways. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody on the other hand remarked that the holy and learned Bhikkus are "Angels in Yellow Robes". Dr. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera has written a book on the life of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody titled "Malpele Upan Pansale Piyathuma". This is the first book in the whole world written by a Buddhist monk on a Catholic priest. In these circumstances it is a misnomer to call Fr. Marcelline Jayakody as the modern Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody whose prose is poetry and words are songs was a legend in his own lifetime. He is the proud boast of Catholics as a national artist and patriot. The writer is a former High Court Judge.
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