Fr. Marcelline Jayakody (
Sinhala: මර්සලින් ජයකොඩි පියතුමා) (3 June 1902 ─ January 15, 1998) was a Sri Lankan
Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...
, musician, lyricist, author, journalist
and an exponent of indigenous culture. He belonged to the Catholic Religious Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.). He is attributed with the epithet 'පන්සලේ පියතුමා' (Pansale Piyathuma - Priest in the Temple). Ven. Dr. Ittapane Dhammalankara Thera authored a book on Jayakody's life, ''මල් පැලේ උපන් පන්සලේ පියතුමා'', (''Malpale Upan Pansale Piyathuma''), which is recorded as the first book in the world by a Buddhist prelate on a Catholic priest.
Passion Play of Duwa
Fr. Jayakody served as the head priest in Duwa in 1939. Duwa is the
Passion Play
The Passion Play or Easter pageant is a dramatic Play (theatre), presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus: his Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, trial, suffering and death. The viewing of and participation in Passion Plays is a traditional part of L ...
Village of Sri Lanka.
Originally, the play used traditional
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...
s as actors. Jayakody wrote the original script for a passion play, influenced by Fr. Jacome Gonsalves, and composed new hymns to the traditional "Pasan".
He next introduced live male and female actors instead of puppets. Eventually there were over 250 live actors taking the place of puppets in his adaptation of
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( ; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic.
Born in Oxford, Sayers was brought up in rural East Anglia and educated at Godolphin School in Salisbury and Somerv ...
's ''
The Man Born to Be King'' (''Dukprathi Prasangaya'' in Sinhala).
The Duwa passion play was considered as the greatest passion show in Asia at that time.
Awards
* In 1979 his poetry book ''Muthu'' (Pearls) won the National State Literary Award (the first Catholic priest to have won a state award).
* In 1982 he was honoured with the title "
Kalasuri
The Kala Suri (; ) is a Sri Lankan Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded "''for special contributions to the development of the arts''". It is conventionally used as a title or prefix to the awardee's name. Kala Suri ranks lower than V ...
" by the state, and "Kithu Nandana Pranamaya" by the Catholic Church for his contributions to arts and culture for over six decades.
* In 1983 he won the
Ramon Magsaysay Award
The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, ...
, considered the Asian Nobel Prize, (along with $US20,000, a medal and a citation) in Manila, Philippines in the category of Journalism, Literature, and the Creative Communication Arts (JLCCA) as appeared on the
List of Ramon Magsaysay Award winners.
Footnotes
References
* "'Christmas, a season of goodwill and celebrations'". sundayobserver.lk. 200
Retrieved 2005-12-25.
* "'Pansale Piyathuma'- 103 years old". sundaytimes. 200
Retrieved /2005/08/21.
* "'Pansale Piyatuma' at the age of 95". sundaytimes. 199
Retrieved /19977/06/01.
* "A legend in his own lifetime". sundayobserver. 200
Retrieved /2004/05/23.
* "A singer – with style". sundayobserver. 200
Retrieved /2007/06/03.
* "Birth centenary of Fr. Marcelline Jayakody". passionplay.lankasites
Retrieved 14 March 2009.
* "Carols and their impact on Sri Lanka". Sunday Observer.200
Retrieved /2004/12/19.
* "Christmas Carols in Sri Lanka". dailynews. 200
Retrieved /2007/12/25.
* "CITATION for Marcelline Jayakody". rmaf.or
* "Could Fr. Marcelline Jayakody be called 'Modern Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez'?". island.. 200
Retrieved /2001/01/08.
* "D. F. Kariyakarawana 60 'Not Out' in journalism". island. 200
Retrieved 2006/05/14.
* "Fifty Years after Rekava...: Rekava – The Line of Density (1956)". sundayobserver.lk. 2006
* "Glimpses of genuine socialism". Sunday observer. 200
Retrieved /2006/12/03.
* "Inspiring life sketch of Fr. Mercelline Jayakody". dailynews. 200
Retrieved /2007/09/05.
* "Latha Icon & national treasure". dailynews. 200
Retrieved /2008/11/4.
* "Pahan Ridma': Choral music on CD". sundaytimer.. 200
Retrieved /2007/06/24.
* "Sunil Santha songs – something to treasure". Sundaytimes. 2008. Retrieved 2009/11/1.
* "The Father in the temple". dailymirror. 201
Retrieved /2010/02/01.
* "True propagator of Dhamma". dailynews. 201
Retrieved /2010/10/14.
* "Two eminent Sri Lankans in the field of arts were born in the first week of June.". sundaytimes. 2007
Retrieved /2007/06/03.
External links
*
Malpale Upan Pansale Piyatuma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayakody, Marcelline
1902 births
1998 deaths
Hela Havula
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners
Sri Lankan lyricists
Sri Lankan poets
Sri Lankan songwriters
20th-century Sri Lankan Roman Catholic priests
Sinhalese writers
Sinhalese people