President at 150th anniversary of ‘Gnanartha Pradeepaya’

A celebration to mark the 150 years completion of the first newspaper of Sri Lanka ‘Gnanartha Pradeepaya’, was held on Monday at the Cardinal’s House in Colombo under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena.

The ‘Gnanartha Pradeepaya’ extended a noble service to build the Catholic spirituality and fulfilled the national responsibility. 

It also fulfilled a task for the national and religious reconciliation of the country.

The paper was founded by the Catholic Priest Peter Ilari and John Fernando on 7 June 1866, with the aim of obtaining donations for the maintenance of the orphanages.

The President was presented a special memento by Archbishop of Colombo Dr. Malcolm Ranjith. 

The anniversary issue of the paper was also presented to the President at this occasion.

Later, the President presented a memento to the Archbishop and the awards were presented to the former editors of the newspaper including the Rev. Fr Shantha Sagara Hettiarachchi, the current editor of the newspaper.

Ministers John Amaratunga and Ravi Karunanayake also participated in this occasion.