Church History
In the place where St. Paul’s Church now stands was a Roman Catholic Church built by the Portuguese in the 16 th century. It was called Nossa Senhora dos Milagres (Our Lady of Miracles). Milagiriya is the Sinhalised name for the Portuguese word ‘milagres’ meaning miracles. There was a well situated near the Church during this time and people used to flock there as its water was reputed to have miraculous healing properties. The sick were brought to the Church from all over the island to drink the water from this well.
When the Dutch colonists arrived in Ceylon they drove away the Portuguese and destroyed their Churches and this included the Church that was in our premises. Next, when the British colonists came here in 1796, they built Anglican churches in several areas. For the people in the Milagiriya area they built a church where the former Roman Catholic church stood. This church was built in 1848 under the superintendence of Rev. Joseph Thurstan, in Gothic architectural style. In 1853 it was dedicated to St Paul the Apostle and in the same year it was consecrated by the first Bishop, James Chapman. This church was not very large and was similar in size to the ones built by the British in the outstations. On 29 th January 1853 the “Illustrated London News” magazine showed a sketch of the church under the caption” The opening of a new church at Milagiriya near Colombo, Ceylon”.
It showed that elaborate preparations had been made and that large pandals in local style with tall areacanut palms festooned with ferns and greenery and also bunches of coconuts and woven gokkola were used for the decorations. Depicted in the sketch was also the small congretion of western – clad ladies and gentlemen assembled and ready to enter ceremonially into the church. To quote from the article – “The assemblage included European ladies and gentlemen and respectably dressed natives. The Bishop’s address in English.
The new church was built in 1903 and consecrated on 4th November 1903 by Bishop E A Copleston. It incorporates the area of the now filled-up well upon which is the small chapel also called the lady chapel. The church bell is said to have been obtained from the Government Agent of Jaffna. This was a large disused bell from the belfry of the 16th century Portuguese Roman Catholic Church bearing the same name, Nossa Senhores dos Milagres of Jaffna, which was also perhaps destroyed by the Dutch. In 1959 Canon Ivan Corea built the porch that extends out from the three doors at the main entrance. The porch was built in memory of Canon Lucien Jansz. The church was built like a Greek Basilica with high gable walls where the roof cannot be seen. The gable walls which are topped by several column mouldings along their length have intricate and ornate mouldings on their sides. For ventilation there are large circular fanlights set high on the walls. The church now more than 110 years old is one of the most beautiful buildings in Colombo. The location Milagiriya which lies between Bambalapitiya and Wellawatte is an established Ward of the Colombo Municipality.