When the Portuguese were defeated by the Dutch and when the Dutch Calvinists persecuted the Catholics (1658-1796) some devout Catholics fled from the Dutch governed area with this statue and hid it. Later it found its way back to Matara.

The story of the statue travels, from the time it came to Sri Lanka over 300 years ago up to 1911, makes interesting reading.

Legend tells us that a huge wooden-crate was hauled out of the sea by some fishermen of Weligama. When it was opened, this beautiful Statue of the Mother and Child was found inside, untouched by the seawater.

These fishermen handed it over to the parish priest and it was subsequently placed in St Mary's Church, Matara. The statue had come on its own, over the waves, and given itself to the care of the Catholics of Ruhunu Rata.

At a later period during a cholera epidemic, which raged through the district and claimed hundreds of lives, the Catholics rallied round this statue and prayed to be delivered from the terrible disease.The statue was taken in a solemn procession through the streets of Matara and non-Catholics too, participated. After a few days the area was declared safe by the health authorities. There were no further deaths.

Miraculous statue -

Since then the people of Matara have come to look upon this statue as miraculous. Many cures and favors are claimed to have been obtained by devotees, who prayed before it.This favor has been increased by the travels of this statue, which after many an adventure came back, once again over the waves. To take it's permanent residence in the very same church in Matara. This is where wonderment comes in.In the early 1900s, after over 300 years in the church of Matara, the statue looked faded and worn due to exposure and the hands of thousands of devotees touching and kissing it.A Belgian Bishop and some Belgium priests were in charge of the Galle diocese and they made arrangements with then famous sculptor and painter M.Zeus of Ghent to “renovate” it.Accordingly, the statue was sent to him on June 2, 1911.M.Zeus not only restored the wasted part but also brought out its original colours.With due care statue was re-packed in a wooden crate and shipped to Matara in the cargo boat, “Beachy” which set sail from Antwerp.This package never reached our shores.It was lost in ransit.

Cargo destroyed -

The ship was caught in a fierce storm in the North Sea and was nearly wrecked. However, it managed to limp into Middlesborough the next morning. Most of the cargo had been destroyed and some had been thrown overboard.At Minicoy, too the ship entered Colombo harbor-minus the statue.The Rt.Rev.Dr.Joseph Van Reeth, Bishop of Galle, and the Belgium priests in the Galle Diocese wrote to friends, and relatives in Belgium and through their intensive investigations traced the statue to a man in Middlesborough.This man,an atheist, refused to hand over the statue and demanded a fabulous some of money, which was refused.In his disappointment and rage, he smashed the face of the statue with a hammer and threw it away.But the statue was recovered and it came back to M.Zeus. He repaired and repainted it.His was a labor of love and zeal. He spent all his energy and time on it till it was restored to the original beauty.

Return -

Bishop Van Reeth went to Belgium on holiday and undertook to bring the statue back to Matara on his return.He set sail with the statue in the steamer, Princes Alice.When he reached Colombo and looked for his luggage, the crate containing the statue was missing.Three days later a cargo boat, the “Uckermarck” from Belgium arrived in Colombo with the missing crate.The “Uckermarck” had sailed after the “Pricess Alice” had left Antwerp harbor and into this cargo boat had been loaded the excess luggage of the earlier passenger ship.