Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Ja-Ela
Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Ja-Ela is a vibrant Catholic parish under the Archdiocese of Colombo, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Sorrows. Ours is a community bound together by faith, tradition, and devotion — from the daily rhythm of Holy Mass to our beloved weekly Novena, and from the sacraments that mark life’s most important moments to the societies and ministries that carry our faith into everyday life.
We are a parish that welcomes all — lifelong parishioners and first-time visitors alike — to join us in prayer, in worship, and in the life of this community.
Our Parish Priests
Rev. Fr. R. Mahe
(1955 – 1966)
Rev. Fr. William Perera
(1966 – 1974)
Rev. Fr. Hugo Jesudasa
(1974 – 1985)
Rev. Fr. John Hettiarachchi
(1985 – 1992)
Rev. Fr. Marl Shantha
(1992 – 1997)
Rev. Fr. Hugo Palihawadana
(1997 – 1998)
Rev. Fr. M. C. P. Christopher
(1998 – 2001)
Rev. Fr. Leo Camillus
(2001 – 2008)
Rev. Fr. S. S. Hettiarachchi
(2008 – 2010)
Rev. Fr. Gegory J. Fernando
(2010 – 2015)
Rev. Fr. Priya Jayamanne
(2015 – 2020)
Rev. Fr. Ranjan De Silva
(2020 – 2023)
Origins
The foundation stone of the church was laid on 9 November 1801, under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Joachim Mure, Rev. Fr. Mariano Saldanha, and Rev. Fr. Juan Vaz of the Oratorian order, on land donated by Mrs. A. Helena Silva. This act of faith took root in a period of renewal for Catholics in Ceylon — Catholic worship had been suppressed under Dutch rule, and it was only with the arrival of the British in 1796 that religious freedom was restored, opening the way for churches like this one to be built.
In 1848, a nearby hill was blessed and consecrated as Kapala Kanda — Calvary Mountain — a site that would soon become central to the parish’s identity. The church itself was formally blessed by His Excellency Bishop Caetano Antonio in 1851, fifty years after its foundation stone was laid.
A Passion Play That Shaped a Town
In 1859, the parish held its first formal Good Friday Passion Play — the Pasku Dharshanaya — staged at Kapala Kanda. The devotion and spectacle of this reenactment drew crowds from far beyond the parish, and its reputation grew year after year.
That reputation had a lasting, tangible effect: when a railway committee was surveying sites for a new station in the area, it was partly the scale of the crowds already flocking to Ja-Ela for the church’s Passion Play that led them to site the station here. The Ja-Ela railway station opened on 9 November 1908 — the very first state institution the village had ever had — and with it, the name “Ja-Ela” was permanently fixed as the town’s identity. A previously unnamed hamlet became a town because of what was happening at this church.
Growth of the Parish
Through the early 20th century, the church continued to grow. Foundations for further parish buildings were laid in 1900, and in 1917 a bell weighing approximately 227 kg was cast and installed. As Ja-Ela itself developed — becoming a town council in 1942 with four divisions, later expanded to nine in 1967 — the parish’s administrative journey mirrored the town’s own.
The church came under the pastoral care of Thudella parish in 1885, and later Weligampitiya parish in 1950. Then, in 1955, Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Ja-Ela was declared an independent parish, with Rev. Fr. R. Mahe appointed as its first parish priest. Rev. Fr. K. William Perera became the parish’s second priest in 1966.
The Wikshopa Nuwanaya and Friday Night Bazaar
On 9 March 1973, the parish began the Wikshopa Nuwanaya devotional service, held every Friday at 4:30 PM. This weekly devotion drew such large numbers of the faithful to Ja-Ela that Friday itself was transformed into the town’s principal business day — giving rise to what locals still know today as the Friday Night Bazaar, a tradition that continues to shape commercial life in Ja-Ela to this day.
A Parish and a Town, Grown Together
From a foundation stone laid in 1801 to a railway station named for the crowds it drew, from a hillside Passion Play that marked 150 years to a weekly devotion that built a marketplace and reached its 2000th celebration — the story of Our Lady of Sorrows Church is, quite literally, the story of how Ja-Ela became a town.
The devotion started in 1973 has endured for decades: on 4 May 2012, the parish celebrated the 2000th Friday Novena service — a milestone marking nearly forty unbroken years of the weekly devotion that once transformed Ja-Ela’s Friday into a market day, and which continues to draw the faithful each week to this day.
The parish’s oldest tradition has its own milestone: in 2009, the community marked 150 years of the Pasku Dharshanaya — a century and a half since the church’s Good Friday Passion Play was first staged at Kapala Kanda in 1859, and a century and a half of bringing the Passion of Christ vividly to life for the people of Ja-Ela and beyond.
In 2026, the parish reached an even greater milestone: 225 years since the foundation stone was first laid in 1801. To mark this Jubilee year, the church underwent a full renovation, and on 4 September 2026, the newly restored altar and church were solemnly reopened and blessed by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. The parish’s 225th Jubilee celebrations continue with the main celebration on 4 October 2026.
Today, under the pastoral care of Rev. Fr. Chaminda Roshan, the parish carries this legacy forward — a community shaped by two centuries of faith, resilience, and devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows. And in this 225th Jubilee year, that story continues.
We invite you, whether a lifelong parishioner or a first-time visitor, to be part of this living history — through the Mass, through devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, and through the community that continues to gather here each week.