Ignatius of Colombo

By Avishka Mario Senewiratne
avishkamario@gmail.com

Talent, passion and humility are virtues hard to emulate and seldom found are those who are blessed with all three. Fr. Ignatius Perera of revered memory, was one such individual born on this palm-fringed island. Some remember him as the Radio Priest. Some recall his prowess in training choirs as well as his concerts. But those who were truly touched by his generosity were those without hope when they dropped out of school not knowing what to do next. He clothed and fed them as well as educated them, giving them the life they deserved. When he suddenly passed away in January 1981, The Catholic Messenger said the following:

“The fascinating personality of Fr. Ignatius should be the subject of serious study by those concerned with the training of pastors…Born into a family of musicians, and schooled in the classics, Fr. Ignatius became an engineer by option, because he had a knack for it, and saw the need for it.”

Whether the life of Fr. Ignatius was studied is doubtful, but his memory has not faded from the minds of those who were inspired by his life and work. Born on October 30, 1915, in the coastal township of Periyamulla, in Negombo, dubbed ‘Little Rome’, Alphonsus Narcissus Ignatius Perera was born to a family of musicians. His father was Louis Perera and his mother, Egistina Catherine Fernando. His elder brother, Francis would be a priest as well as a Choral Director. While receiving his early education at St. Mary’s College, Negombo, young Ignatius received the calling to be a priest. His brother’s influence may also have had something to do with his decision.

The superiors of young Ignatius, such as the seminary Rector, Fr. Edmund Pieris OMI, communicated his brilliant academic record as well as his prowess in music to Fr. Maurice Le Goc OMI, the Rector of St. Joseph’s College at that time. Fr. Le Goc was highly impressed and immediately recruited him to St. Joseph’s. Young Ignatius was known to invent all sorts of creative things in his early days. The scientist priest (now forgotten), Fr. Gregory Goonawardena, played a big role in Ignatius’ early days. Upon completing his school education, he received the opportunity to study in Rome for his priesthood. The subsequent years in Europe would be a roller-coaster ride for the young man as war intervened in his formation as a priest. However, the delay entering the priesthood was one of the best things that would happen for Fr. Ignatius.

The colourful days in Rome

The young seminarian was an outstanding student and well-read in the classics. He mastered several Western languages and spoke fluent Italian. Apart from his theological and philosophical studies, Ignatius read for an Honour’s Degree in Classics. Soon after, he got to experiment with two other skills he had not developed in Ceylon. It is unusual that a person could balance sacred music and radio.

Yet, this was the niche Ignatius Pera filled along with his passion for classics. It was through sheer hard work and self-study that he mastered electronics. He truly had a knack for it and doing repairs along with other work brought him great satisfaction in the then Fascist-ruled Italy. However, there were periods where he spent too much time on radios and less on classics flunking some of his exams! The young seminarian’s skills became well-known in the days to come.

On one occasion just 10 minutes before a transmission was to begin, the Vatican Radio broke down. During this time Giulio Marconi, son of Guglielmo Marconi, who was in charge of Vatican Radio rang young Ignatius to come and help. Within no time, the transmission was active and the radio worked as if new. It is also said that Ignatius was called multiple times by a priest called Fr. Giovanni Montini for repair work. This priest would later be Pope Paul VI.

Another interesting anecdote on Fr. Ignatius was when he was in charge of the BTH Super 35mm Arc projector in the auditorium of Propaganda College. He found an ingenious way of modifying the projector motor feed. Thanks to Ignatius, those at Propaganda had the good fortune of watching 35mm feature films, a facility which many others did not enjoy then. He was assisted in the projection room by a German priest and the future Rector of SJC and SPC, Fr. Mervyn Weerakkody.

While Ignatius was running the projector one day, he had to urgently run to the washroom. That day there were no assistants. Unexpectedly, a fire broke out in the projection cubicle, damaging both the films and the projector. However, Ignatius’ magical hands were able to rewind the burnt transformer and repair the projector.

One day the Vatican grounds were full of aero-buffs who had come to fly their model planes. Ignatius found a way of hacking the frequencies of these model aircraft and directed the planes as he wished taking control of the flying machines from their hapless controllers on the ground. There certainly was pandemonium in the Vatican on that eventful day!

After his formation ended, he amassed a lot of free time. This he utilized usefully by learning Sacred Music at the Academy of St. Cecelia. Again, through basic teaching and self-study, he also mastered this field. Ignatius surprised all by sitting for the Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of London. Here he succeeded with ease. In Rome, he received one of the rare privileges of conducting the Choir of the Sistine Chapel. With the fall of Benito Mussolini in 1943, Italy was liberated. However, World War II continued for two more years.

During these war-torn years, young Ignatius taught Classics to various groups. In the meantime, he ventured to do a Diploma from Faraday House (An electrical engineering College in the UK), to secure a recognized qualification in electronics. After a long period of gestation, Ignatius and his fellow seminarians were ordained in Rome on March 19, 1944. He was 27-years of age. A year later, Fr. Ignatius was called back to Ceylon and the Archbishop of Colombo, Msgr. Masson gave him his first appointment to serve his alma mater.

During this period, St. Joseph’s College had been taken over by the Royal Navy, and the staff and students were located in various parts of the Western Province. Fr. Ignatius was sent to the Borella branch of SJC. Here he had a guide in the person of Fr. Peter Pillai, the Rector. The two of them got along with another contemporary, Fr. Justin Perera. The College in Borella adjoining the Archbishop’s House was a temporary structure and was quite uncomfortable for the boys who had once been in Darley Road. Fr. Ignatius had a reputation that preceded him, for what he had achieved in Rome was beyond the ordinary. Thus, his future students expected a certain stature and strict personality in their teacher. What they saw was this simple priest, not taller than 5’4, riding a ladies bicycle to Borella, raising many eyebrows. One of his first students, Peter Perera now residing in UK, recalls his early memory of Fr. Ignatius as follows:

“He was an unassuming, simple down-to-earth character, affable, youthful, completely approachable almost like one of the students. There was none of the aloofness and authoritarian manner of the teachers we were accustomed to.”

Fr. Ignatius first started taking the Latin class, for this was his initial forte. His teaching was compelling and those who disliked the subject were attracted to it solely because of him. During the 45-minute period, only 15 minutes were spent on Latin declensions. The rest of the period was a discussion any other subject the students questioned him about and his extraordinary experiences in war-torn Europe. Despite this, his students were all successful in their exams for he knew the art of imparting knowledge and making students learn in their own way. Soon he was entrusted with the role of choir master of the almost defunct St. Cecilia’s Choir of SJC. Here is how the 1949 Blue and White magazine wrote about the coming of Fr. Ignatius to the choir:

“And then 1946 – our new birth, our new home with our new choirmaster. How am I to tell you of those first practices, those practices at which all sorts of strange fish turned up: fish that our little priest had to turn into singing fish? Many of those fish kept wondering what this man was doing to them. Was he trying to ruin them? Making them sing in parts – it may seem exaggerated but I’m sure there were boys – I among them – who did not catch on to the idea of singing while somebody near them seemed to prefer to sing his own composition. Having patiently got each group – Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses – to learn their parts, he found the whole lot lustily singing Soprano! Poor little priest! But in the midst of apparent failure, the messiah had to triumph. In about three months we found ourselves, to our own surprise, actually singing in parts! And that in four parts too!”

Fr. Ignatius’ skill and experience in Rome came into good hands to revive the Josephian Choir. His methodical training and meaningful set of practices warranted success. Soon, the standards had risen to such a level that the students were able to sing over the National Service of Radio Ceylon. The feedback from the general public was overwhelming. The revived Josephian Choir would now go on to take part in the music competition hosted by the Western Music Section of the Department of Education, and ultimately win it.

The judge at this event was D’Hales of Trinity College of Music in London. He hailed the choir for their splendid performance and said they sang just as well as choirs in England. ‘Handel’s Requiem’ conducted by Fr. Ignatius and performed by the Josephians is considered the greatest of the musical performances the College hosted at that time. The Josephian Orchestra was established in the year 1947, consisting of 16 members (seven violinists, a bass player and a pianist). It was conducted by Fr. Ignatius Perera.

With World War II’s end, most British forces stationed in Ceylon left for their own country. Their vehicles, weapons, radios and other war equipment were put up for sale as the forces had little use for them any more. Fr. Ignatius bought a rifle, an army jeep, and some radios. Whenever he had time, he would drive his jeep to distant jungles. He took great pleasure in hunting birds and wild boar. On one of his jungle trips, he rescued a mongoose in Pottuvil and adopted it as his pet. The mongoose named ‘Tikka’ would be with Fr. Ignatius as he worked in his radio lab and at times he took Latin in the classroom. The mongoose and the priest became a feature of the College at that time.

At the request of his students, Fr. Ignatius started the Radio Lab of St. Joseph’s College in 1947. The students were very curious about radios, their working and repairs. Soon the membership would reach about 30 or so. Fr. Ignatius taught them the theory of radio and soon made arrangements to let them repair radio sets and make amplifiers. Fr. Peter Pillai trusted this initiative. Soon the Radio Lab made their own amplifier and fixed it to the sound system of the Bonjean Hall. With unprecedented donations and sponsorship, Fr. Ignatius’ lab was well-equipped with state-of-the-art technology. No school or lab elsewhere was able to match its standard.

Fr. Ignatius Perera installed a private Intercom telephone system with 24 connections, linking various offices and buildings in St. Joseph’s College. The standards maintained at the Radio Club were extremely high, and the services it rendered outside school were stupendous. The Radio Club installed amplifiers that were manufactured at the College Lab in some of the popular churches on the island, such as St. Mary’s Church, Bambalapitiya, All Saints’ Church, Borella, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral, Chilaw and St. Mary’s Church, Negombo. A large amplifier system of 180 Watt output was built for the church and camp of St. Anne’s Shrine, Talawila. A giant 27,000 Watts transformer for a three-phase electricity supply was also built under the guidance of Fr. Ignatius.

For all his work in the lab, Fr. Ignatius had his very own golaya in the person of Aloysius, a young man who was starving on the streets with little hope for the future. Fr. Ignatius employed him and they developed a lifelong friendship. Ignatius and Aloysius were workaholics who slept less and mostly on the table of the lab. The ‘equipment hospital’ was a mess, strewn with damaged radios, clocks, refrigerators, toys, and gramophones. However, whatever was brought to the lab, was restored by Fr. Ignatius. This is how Noel Crusz, a good friend of Ignatius illustrated the latter:

“Ignatius smoked ‘Peacock’ cigarettes butt to butt. His fingers were brown with nicotine. He had his tot of double-distilled Mendis special. He was generous to a fault, especially to those seeking advice on equipment, electronics, music or the classics.”

Fr. Ignatius as stated above was a brilliant teacher in whatever he taught. However, with all these talents what made him special and loved by all was his zeal for the Almighty and care for the needy. His devotion to the downtrodden made him a veritable angel to those who had once lost hope in life. Fr. Ignatius was a simple man who had a unique sense of humour. He was childlike and lovable. Such traits are not common in modern society. Chaplain Raja Pereira, a student of Fr. Ignatius relates an important story on the latter:

“One day, during class Father wrote on the board this equation: V = I x R and asked ‘What is this, son?”. I was still fresh with our B1 class’s Physics teacher Eric Mendis’ electricity lectures and so I soon put up my hand and said ‘Ohm’s Law, Father’. Fr. Ignatius responded ‘No sonna boy, this was God’s Law which Ohm happened to discover’. It was from here that we learnt that one should put what God said at all times ahead of what man says.”

In the early 1950s, Fr. Ignatius started the famous Catholic Choral Society consisting of young men and women from various parts of Colombo. Ruth Van Gramberg, my good friend living in Melbourne, wrote to me recently relating her experience in those memorable days of the Choral Society. She mentioned that the maestro regularly trained them and received many opportunities to perform at Radio Ceylon. She recalled how Fr. Perera would be invited to perform in public functions with the choir. Once the choir had performed for Premier Sir John Kotelawala at his Kandawala home.

On many occasions Fr. Ignatius paired with the like-minded media-friendly Fr. Noel Crusz. They partnered in several plays where Fr. Crusz wrote the screenplay and Fr. Ignatius directed the music. Those performances were attended by hundreds and sometimes in thousands. In 1956, the sound editing for the feature film Little Bike Lost, directed by Fr. Noel Crusz was done by Fr. Ignatius and his students in the radio lab.

One of the greatest supporters of Fr. Perera was Mrs. Edith (J.L.M.) Fernando of Pegasus Reef Hotel fame. She, through her son Lalin had come to know him quite well and lobbied those in the Church to aid his good work. Edith Fernando had convinced Fr. Peter Pillai to recommend Fr. Ignatius for a USIS Scholarship in the USA. This move paid off and Fr. Ignatius was able to travel to USA and Europe for his studies in 1960. One area he extensively studied was the new development in electromagnetism. Upon his return, Fr. Ignatius had plans to start a new radio lab.

Archbishop Thomas Cooray supported this ideal wholeheartedly and made plans to form the lab in Kotahena, near the Cathedral. In 1962, after donations had been received from many of his friends, students, and especially the Philips Electric Company, the Radio Lab was ready. It was blessed and opened by the Archbishop. This multi-story building was to make men and not records. Fr. Perera was very keen on recruiting school dropouts who did not have any hope in academics. Vocational studies such as electronics became a useful option.

Despite his high level of intelligence and ability to do multiple things, Fr. Ignatius Perera, was a simple, down-to-earth presbyter. His devotion to the poor and downtrodden was well known. It was customary for him to help anyone for nothing in return. On one occasion, when Fr. Justin Perera was admitted to a public ward at the General Hospital, he noticed that a child in critical condition was being put on an iron lung (a mechanical ventilator) which failed and those in the hospital were unable to fix it. While the child’s life was ebbing away, Fr. Justin called Fr. Ignatius for help. It was 10 in the night and Ignatius was as usual up and working in the lab. When answering the phone Ignatius said, “Justin, I have never seen an Iron Lung in all my life”. Fr. Justin countered saying, “That does not matter one bit. You just come along”.

Within a few minutes, Fr. Ignatius was on the scene and in a few moments fixed the failed Iron Lung with just a little strip of bamboo! Such was his interest in those in distress and his divine ability to repair appliances considered unfix-able. Fr. Justin in his writings discusses while he was editor of the Ceylon Catholic Messenger, one of the printing machines of the Colombo Catholic Press had failed when an important publication was being printed. Again, Fr. Ignatius did the impossible, though printing machines were not part of his expertise. On another occasion, when a large foreign ship was docked in the Colombo Port, its radios failed. The government of Ceylon trusted none but this genius priest, who once again did the needful with relative ease. Stories of Fr. Ignatius can go on and on. This is what makes him legendary.

Towards the end of his life, Fr. Ignatius’ sight failed and he became a recluse. However, only a year before his death, he received a Doctorate from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) with no Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree. Such was his recognition.

Fr. Ignatius Perera passed away from a heart attack in his room in the Kotahena Lab premises on January 1981 aged 66. Many from various parts of the island came to pay their final respects to this much-loved and talented priest. President J.R. Jayewardene granted special permission to inter his remains on the premises of the Lab. Today a statue has been erected in his memory and yeoman contribution to the country. Whence cometh another?