The Cathedral of St. Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary ( Sinhala: ''Galla Santha Mariya Asana Dewu Mædura''), is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galle. It is a landmark in the city of

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

Sri Lanka 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, ...

. The cathedral was built by the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

at the end of the 19th century. The first bishop was the Belgian Jesuit . The cathedral is central and important to the Catholics of southern Sri Lanka in the Diocese of Galle. The church is dedicated to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

References

External links

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Diocese of Galle
Archaeological protected monuments in Galle District Churches in Galle Roman Catholic cathedrals in Sri Lanka Tourist attractions in Southern Province, Sri Lanka 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Sri Lanka {{Asia-RC-cathedral-stub