Thousands of Sri Lankan Christians gather at the sacred Madhu Shrine, located in a former war zone that is 144 miles northeast of the capital, Colombo
For Catholics around the world, Aug. 15 is among the holiest of feast days. It marks the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, when the mother of Jesus is believed to have been physically taken into heaven after death so that her body would not suffer earthly decay. For the Catholics of Sri Lanka, Aug. 15 this year marked a similar miracle: the survival of a 500-year-old statue of the Virgin, through the fiery tumult of a quarter-century of civil war, which was re-ensconced in a jungle church that was once again safe to travel to.
The voice coming...
