Diocese of Anuradhapura
Anuradhapuren(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Latin diocese in north-central Sri Lanka, elevated to a full diocese in 1982 from territory of the Diocese of Jaffna and the Diocese of Trincomalee-Batticaloa, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Colombo. Its cathedral is St. Joseph's Cathedral in Anuradhapura; Bishop Don Nishantha Sagara Jayamanne was appointed on 16 December 2025 after Bishop Norbert Andradi's retirement.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 18 March 1982
- Latin
- Anuradhapuren(sis)
- Patron
- Saint Joseph
- Annuario code
- 001000708
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 12,703
- Population
- 1,110,904
- Catholic shareof the people living within its bounds
- 1.1%
- Priests
- 17
- Catholics per priest
- 747
- Extent
- 10,727 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 1.2
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Don Nishantha Sagara Jayamanne, S.S.S.
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
St. Joseph's Cathedral, Anuradhapura stands in Anuradhapura, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Colombo
A suffragan of Archdiocese of Colombo.
The sees of this province:
- Diocese of BadullaBadulla
- Diocese of BatticaloaBatticaloa
- Diocese of ChilawChilaw
- Diocese of GalleGalle
- Diocese of JaffnaJaffna
- Diocese of KandyKandy
- Diocese of KurunegalaKurunegala
- Diocese of MannarMannar
- Diocese of RatnapuraRatnapura
- Diocese of TrincomaleeTrincomalee
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Catholic life in this corner of Sri Lanka was first organized as the apostolic prefecture of Anuradhapura, carved from territory belonging to the Diocese of Jaffna and the Diocese of Trincomalee-Batticaloa. In 1982 the prefecture was raised to a full diocese (Lat: Dioecesis Anuradhapurensis) of the Latin Church, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Colombo. Norbert Marshall Andradi has led it as bishop since his appointment in 2003. Its cathedral, St. Joseph's, may be the oldest church in Sri Lanka: the Portuguese missionary Pedro de la Fonseca founded it in 1544, though the building that stands today dates from 1845.
How to reach it
- Diocesan offices
- Bishop’s House, Church Road, New Town, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
- Telephone
- [025]22.22.503; fax 22.34.901
This see keeps no website of its own, so the address of its diocesan offices is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
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Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.