St Michael and All Angels Church, Polwatte ( si, කොල්ලුපිටිය ගල් පල්ලිය) is located in

Kollupitiya Kollupitiya, also known as Colpetty is a major neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The name Kollupitiya comes from the name of a chief from Kandy who had unsuccessfully attempted to dethrone the last king of Kandy. During the period of British a ...

, a suburb of

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

History

In 1844 Rev. Solomon David from

Kotahena Kotahena is a suburb part of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is an area known as ''Colombo 13'' Places of worship Kotahena is the location of some places of worship: *Dipaduttamarama, where in 1885 for the first time the Buddhist flag was shown and where ...

began holding regular services in a house in the area. In 1853 the first chapel in Polwatte, located near the present junction of Hudson’s Road and Mohandiram’s Lane, was dedicated to St. Thomas by

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

James Chapman. The chapel was essentially a small building with a

cadjan Cadjan are woven mats made from coconut palm leaves, used for roofing and walls. Cadjan houses were available in many Asian countries in past, but with development these houses are now limited to very rural areas in India, Sri Lanka Sri ...

roof and half walls. The chapel was accidentally burnt down in 1864, when fireworks as part of the chapel's anniversary celebrations went awry. SL Colombo asv2020-01 img15 StMichael and All Angels Church

SL Colombo asv2020-01 img15 StMichael and All Angels Church

A new chapel was the constructed on the present site was erected in 1865. Two years later it was enlarged and dedicated to St. Thomas on his

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

, 21 December 1867 by Bishop

Piers Claughton Piers Calveley Claughton (8 June 1814 – 11 August 1884) was an Anglican colonial bishop and author. Early life The son of Thomas Claughton ( M.P. for Newton, Lancashire, 1818 – 25) of Haydock Lodge, he was educated at Brasenose College, ...

. In 1886

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Walter Edmond Matthew introduced services in English and proposed that the name be changed to 'Church of the Good Shepherd' to avoid confusion with a similar named

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

. The congregation however decided upon St Michael and All Angels, with the church dedicated on St. Michael’s Day, 29 September 1887. Rev. P. B. Moonemale was appointed as the first resident priest. In 1896 two aisles were added to the church. In 1899 two new

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es were formed,

St. Paul's Church, Milagiriya St. Paul's Church is situated in the Milagiriya district of Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is one of the oldest churches in Sri Lanka as now part of the Anglican Church of Ceylon. The Portuguese Era The church was first built ...

and St. Michael’s. In 1918 the decision was made to enlarge the church however it became apparent that an entirely new church building was required. The first part of the new church was consecrated by

Ernest Copleston on 20 November 1919, with construction of the whole church completed in 1922 and the church was re-consecrated on St. Michael’s Day, that year, by Bishop Copleston. Worship services are held in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, Sinhala and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

External links

church website

References

*''The Travel Diaries of Peter Pears, 1936-1978'', By Peter Pears, Philip Reed a
Goggle Books
accessed on 5 September 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael and All Angels, St. Churches in Colombo Church of Ceylon church buildings in the Diocese of Colombo Churches completed in 1887