Sillalai is a hamlet in the Jaffna district which is in the North of Sri Lanka. It is rich in vegetation, surrounded by paddy fields, and blessed with naturally good soil and water which is to irrigate paddy and vegetable cultivations as people Sillalai of the main livelihood is farming. Sillalai also called “Little Rome”, which has its own worldwide recognition in Catholicism, Tradition, Culture, Art, and Society.
Sillalai is also renowned for giving protection to St. Joseph Vaz, the missionary priest from Goa, during the Dutch persecution of Catholics. The Crucifix he gave to a family in the year 1687 is reverently preserved to this day by the descendants and the request from the emissary of Papal Secretariat for the Crucifix for the cause of his canonization and to be kept in the Vatican Museum was politely declined by the present holder of the Crucifix.
