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With poetry and song he touched the lives of all
Tribute to Fr. Marcelline Jayakody
By W.T.A. Leslie Fernando
About seven decades ago, a young Catholic priest was at the centre of controversy for offering lotus flowers at the sanctuary at the wedding mass of one of his relatives. Since then much water has flowed under the bridge and national culture is given its due place in the Catholic Church.

He was none other than Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, OMI, whose death anniversary falls today. The well known Catholic priest, musician, poet, lyricist, writer and patriot passed away on January 15, 1998, aged 95, after an eventful and colourful career.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was born at Dankotuwa on June 3, 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 patriots like Angarika Dharmapala, Walisinghe Harischandra, Piyadasa Sirisena and John de Silva. The higher strata in society who aped the Western way of life was severely criticised by novelist Piyadasa Sirisena. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody drew inspiration from his writings.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody served as an assistant parish priest in Kotahena, Pamunugama, Kochchikade (Negombo) and Katana. 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 was the parish priest of Duwa, the Duwa Passion Play was performed with images of sacred personages based on the centuries-old "Nine Sermons" in "Dukprapthi Prasangaya" written by Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody revised and recast the Duwa Passion Play while maintaining its 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 the Duwa Passion Play has spread far and wide. The greatest contribution Fr. Marcelline Jayakody made to the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is in the sphere of Church music.

In the 1920's the normal practice was to dub Sinhala words to Latin hymns and Western melodies. At the beginning Fr. Marcelline Jayakody too wrote some hymns especially carols adopting Western tunes. However in 1934, he composed the hymn "Sapiri Sama - Asiri Soma" and the Christmas Carol "Raya Tharu Babalanawa" set to his own music. These became very popular.

In the 1940s and 1950s specially around Independence there was a national awakening in Sri Lanka. This national consciousness had its effect on the Catholic Church as well. Accordingly Fr. Marcelline Jayakody too began to produce outstanding hymns like "Ronata Vadina Bingu Obay", "Nelum Pipeela Pethi Visireela" and "Suvanda Jale Pipi Kumudiniye". These magnificent hymns with their superb lyrics, sweet music and local setting captivated the hearts of all.

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. Marcelline trained students of Musaseus College and there is no doubt that this magnificent performance had gone a long way to "Namo Namo Matha" later being adopted as our national anthem.

In late 1949, Fr. Marcelline Jayakody was appointed the Editor of "Gnanartha Pradeepaya", the official Catholic Sinhala weekly. He increased the pages from 8 to 12, redesigned the paper and introduced new features with an indigenous outlook.

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

Today "Gnanartha Pradeepaya" is far from being a mere translation of the "Messenger". It has its own 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 he returned he was sent to Tolagatty in Jaffna as a punishment for leaving the country without permission of the Church authorities. Later he served as a teacher in St. Patrick's College, Jaffna. Fr. Marcelline 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" journal on Hindu culture, the simple and serene life of people and beauty of Jaffna and 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 the metropolis.

"Rekawa" presented by Lester James Pieris in 1956 was a landmark in Sinhala cinema. Fr. Marcelline was asked to write the lyrics for the songs in "Rekawa" and Sunil Santha to provide music for them.

In 1976, Fr. Marcelline's column in the "Messenger" was suddenly discontinued over a controversial article. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody could not be thwarted. Instead he wrote a series of poems extolling the Buddhist way of life and Sinhala culture to the "Kaviya" magazine.

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

A well-known journalist he contributed to both the Catholic and secular press. He was an active member of "Hela Havula" intiated by Munidasa Kumaratunga 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 in 1995 Ven. Dr. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera presented the book "Malpale Upan Pansale Piyatuma" on the life of Marcelline Jayakody. This is the first book written by a Buddhist Bhikku on a Catholic priest.

Fr. Marcelline Jayakody never betrayed the Christian doctrine. He did not approve of introducing extraneous forms of worship and practices into churches. In his columns in the "Messenger" he remarked that there are some Catholics who want to be become more Buddhist and Hindu than the Buddhists and Hindus themselves.

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

Fr. Marcelline whose prose was poerty and words songs was a legend in his own lifetime. No other Catholic priest in Sri Lanka has touched the hearts and lives of both Catholics and non-Catholics like Marcelline Jayakody.

(The writer is a former High Court Judge)

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