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by W. T. A. Leslie Fernando

About seven decades ago a young Catholic priest was at the centre of controversy and was criticised in church circles for offering some Lotus flowers 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 Catholic Church. And the then young priest is considered as an exponent of indigenous culture.

He was none other than Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, OMI, a household name in our country whose birth anniversary falls on June 03, 2003. The well-known Catholic priest, musician, poet, lyricist, writer and patriot, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody passed away on January 15, 1998 at the ripe old age of 95.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was born at Dankotuwa on January 03, 1902. He 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.

At 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 Anagarika Dharmapala, Walisinghe Harischandra, John de Silva and Piyadasa Sirisena. The higher strata in society who believed in the Western way of life were severely criticised by the well-known Sinhala novelist Piyadasa Sirisena. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody read the novels of Piyadasa Sirisena with interest and drew inspiration from his works.

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 Parist Priest he gave the altar a national aura bedecking it with gokkola and ralipalam.

At that time the churches were set up on a caste basis it is so even today in some churches. In one parish the people who belonged to one caste refused to accept Fr. Marcelline Jayakody who belonged to a different caste. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was adamant and never moved out. Later he won over the parishioners and served the parish with much acceptance.

As a Parish Priest Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was able to tame tough characters, defuse caste issues and succeeded in tactfully dealing with the problems in the parishes. When Fr. Macelline Jayakody was the Parish Priest of Duwa, the Duwa Passion Play was performed with images of sacred personages based on "Nine Sermons" in "Dukprapthi Prasangaya" written by Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody revived and recasted the Duwa Passion Play while maintaining the traditional outlook. He used human actors for all the scenes except for Christ and Mary. He also composed the hymns in the play in addition to the traditional "Pasan". Since then the fame of Duwa Passion Play spread far and wide. At that time the Duwa Passion Play enacted with over 250 actors all from the hamlet of Duwa was considered as the greatest Passion show in Asia.

In 1940s with the indigenisation of the administration, the church in Sri Lanka witnessed a renaissance in the sphere of Catholic cultural activity. The pioneer of this renaissance was the late Bishop Edmund Peiris who wanted to make the church in Sri Lanka a thing of the soil. With this end in view Bishop Edmund Pieris made an attempt to revive the cultural adaptation of the Oratorian priests during the Dutch times.

Bishop Edmund Pieris edited and presented many works of Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez which contained prayers in the chanting style of Sinhala and Tamil prose and hymns set to Carnatic ragas and folk music well-known in the soil. Passion plays based on the traditional model, group recital of Pasan and Catholic Nadgams like "Raja Tunkattuwa" were all performed under his inspiration, guidance and patronage.

However, Bishop Edmund Pieris did not attempt to orientate cultural adaptation to suit modern times and conditions. Bishop Edmund Peiris preferred to retain Western music in our hymns and he himself dubbed Sinhala words to Western hymns.

The credit of presenting indigenisation in its true perspective and directing the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka towards the mainstream of national life should go to Fr. Marcelline Jayakody.

At that time the normal practice was to compose Sinhala hymns set to Latin tunes and Western melodies. At the beginning Fr. Marcelline Jayakody too wrote some hymns specially carols adapting Western music. However in 1934 he composed the hymn "Sapiri Soma - Asiri Sama" and the Christmas carol "Raya Tharu Babalanawa" set to his own music. These compositions became very popular and are still sung in churches with much acceptance. Since then Fr. Marcelline Jayakody never looked back and began to compose hymns set to his own music.

In 1940s and 1950s specially around independence there was a national revival in Sri Lanka. This national consciousness had its effect on the Catholic Church as well.

Accordingly Fr. Marcelline Jayakody too began to compose hymns with a national fervour. The outstanding hymns of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody released during this time like "Ronata Vadina Bingu Obai", "Nelum Pipeela Pethi Visireela" and "Suvanda Jale Pipi Kumudiniye" with their superb lyrics, sweet music and local setting captivated the hearts of all.

The hymns of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody are simple and close to people. They contain both Christian aspects and national outlook. They are ever popular in churches and are appreciated even by the non-Catholics.

In 1949 Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was invited to train the choir for the song "Namo Namo Matha" for the first independence anniversary as the composer Ananda Samarakone had gone abroad. Fr. Marclline 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 magnificent performance had gone a long 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 Sinhala Catholic weekly. He increased the pages from 8 to 12 and introduced new features with an indigenous outlook. He also designed the caption of "Gnanartha Pradeepaya" in traditional setting. This caption is still continued.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody could not stay long in "Gnanartha Pradeepaya". The authorities insisted that he should closely follow the English Catholic weekly and present news and articles in the "Messenger" in Sinhala. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody refused explaining that it would amount to translation and not journalism. He then left Gnanartha Pradeepaya and on his own went to Shanthinikethan in India.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody underwent some training at Shanthinikethan, the famous oriental arts centre, set up by Rabindranath Tagore. When he returned he was sent to Tolagatty Jaffna as a punishment for leaving the country without the permission of church authorities. Later he served as a teacher in St. Patrick's College, Jaffna.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody made use of his stay in Jaffna to make a study of Hindu religion and Tamil culture. He wrote a series of articles to the "Times of Ceylon" paper 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.

In 1953, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was appointed to the staff of St. Peter's College, Colombo. At St. Peter's with the assistance of Heenbaba Dharmasiri he set up an Oriental Arts Centre and introduced indigenous fine arts to this leading Catholic school in metropolis.

"Rekawa" presented in 1956 by Lester James Peries was a landmark in Sinhala cinema. This was the first film to be produced with a real indigenous outlook and it won international recognition. Lester James Peries got Fr. Marcelline Jayakody to write lyrics for songs in "Rekawa" and Sunil Santha to provide music for them.

Rekawa" created such an enthusiasm that "Sunday Observer" conducted a poll to select the leading personality in the film world in 1956. From the beginning Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was found to be leading because of his fascinating lyrics for songs in Rekawa. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody who did not want to take any undue credit made a declaration that he only wrote lyrics for songs in Rekawa and it was Sunil Santha who set the music for them. But that did not make any difference.

At the end Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was selected the winner defeating such stalwarts in the film scene like Rukmani Devi, B. A. W. Jayamanne, Laddie Ranasinghe, Sirisena Wimalaweera and Mohideen Baig. Dr. W. Dahanayake, the then Minister of Education who presented the award said, "If I could write a single song like this, I consider it as a greater achievement than being a Minister."

In 1970s Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was carrying a column in the "Messenger". He wrote it for 4 years and continued it even when he was abroad. In 1976 his popular column was suddenly discontinued over a controversial article. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody could not be thwarted in that manner. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody instead wrote a series of poems to "Kaviya" magazine extolling Buddhist way of life and Sinhala culture.

"Muthu" was a collection of poems carried in "Kaviya". "Muthu" won Fr. Marcelline Jayakody the Presidential Award for the best poetry work in 1979 and the famous international award, the Magsaysay Prize in 1983.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody has presented many other prose and poetry works both in Sinhala and in English. A well-known journalist he often carried columns in both Catholic and secular press. He was an active member of the "Hela Havula" initiated by Munidasa Cumaranatunga for the correct usage of Sinhala. For many decades until his death he was the President of the Sinhala Poets' Association.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody appreciated Buddhist culture and he was close to Buddhist temple and Buddhist Bhikkhus. He expressed that holy and learned Buddhist Bhikkhus are "Angels in yellow robes" (Daily News New Year Supplement - April 13, 1993). He took pride in being called "Pansale Piyatuma". (Catholic priest of the Buddhist temple).

Nevertheless Fr. Marcelline Jayakody never betrayed Christian doctrine in the name of indigenization. He did not approve introducing Buddhist and Hindu worship and practices into churches. In his columns in the "Messenger" he endorsed the remark that some Catholics try to become more Buddhists and Hindus than Buddhists and Hindus themselves.

In 1995 Ven. Dr. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera presented the book "Malpalle Upan Pansale Piyatuma" on the life of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody. This is the first book in the whole world written by a Buddhist Bhikkhu on a Catholic priest.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was honoured with the title "Kalasuri" by the State and "Kithu Nandana Pranamaya" by the Catholic church for his magnificent contributions to arts and culture in Sri Lanka for over six decades.

(The writer is a former High Court Judge)

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