Right Reverend Emmanuel Thomas Savundaranayagam (, ; born 13 July 1938) is a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

priest and former

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Bishop of Jaffna.

Early life and family

Savundaranayagam was born on 13 July 1938 in Kayts on the island of Velanaitivu in northern

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kayts and St. Patrick's College, Jaffna. He then studied at St. Martin's Seminary, Jaffna and National Seminary, Ampitiya (1957–64). Savundaranayagam has a

Doctor of Sacred Theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church, being the ecclesiastical equ ...

degree from the

Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian, is a pontifical university that was under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The university's mission is to ...

and a Diploma in Catechetics.

Career

Savundaranayagam was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a priest in December 1963. After his ordination he served as an assistant parish priest at St. Mary's Cathedral, Jaffna for few years. In January 1981 he was appointed Bishop of Mannar and was ordained as a bishop in July 1981 at the

Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu The Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu is a Roman Catholic Marian shrine in Mannar district of Sri Lanka. With a history of more than 400 years, the shrine acts as a center of pilgrimage and worship for Sri Lankan Catholics.S. J. Anthony FernandMadhu Ch ...

. He became Bishop of Jaffna in July 1992. He retired in October 2015. Savundaranayagam is a strong activist for Tamil rights in Sri Lanka and humanitarian efforts in what is sometimes called "

Tamil Eelam Tamil Eelam (, ''tamiḻ īḻam''; generally rendered outside Tamil-speaking areas as தமிழ் ஈழம்) is a proposed independence, independent sovereign state, state that many Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lan ...

". He had called for international intervention to stop the Sri Lankan conflict.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Savundaranayagam, Thomas 1938 births 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sri Lanka Alumni of St. Patrick's College, Jaffna Roman Catholic bishops of Jaffna Living people People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon Pontifical Urban University alumni Roman Catholic bishops of Mannar Sri Lankan Tamil activists Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan Roman Catholic bishops