His Lordship Bishop Cletus C. Perera OSB the Bishop of Ratnapura presided at the Festive Eucharistic Celebration of Our Lady of Tindari togther with Rev. Fr. Neville Joe Perera, the National Coordinator of the Italian Bishops’ Conference for the Sri Lankan migrants, Rev.Fr.Sarath Nimal the Chaplain for Messina and with several priests.

Rev. Fr. Sarath Nimal together with the community had made all the arrangements for the Feast. Over 4,000 of pilgrims participated in the Festive Mass.

Tyndaris was situated on a bold and lofty hill standing out as a promontory into the spacious bay of the Tyrrhenian Sea bounded by the Punta di Milazzo on the east, and the Capo Calavià on the west, and was distant according to the Itineraries 36 miles from Messana (modern Messina).

It was a Greek city, and one of the latest of all the cities in Sicily that could claim a purely Greek origin, having been founded by the elder Dionysius in 396 or 395 BC.

By the 19th century, the site of Tyndaris was wholly deserted, but the name was retained by a church, which crowned the most elevated point of the hill on which the city formerly stood, and was still called the Madonna di Tindaro. It is c. 180 m above the sea-level, and forms a conspicuous landmark to sailors. Considerable ruins of the ancient city, are also visible. It occupied the whole plateau or summit of the hill, and the remains of the ancient walls may be traced, at intervals, all round the brow of the cliffs, except in one part, facing the sea, where the cliff is now quite precipitous.

Local legend tells that the lagoon was created after a pilgrim who came to see the Madonna refused to pray to the Madonna because she was black. The woman accidentally dropped her baby into the ocean and the Madonna made the land rise to save the baby. The sands of Marinello have taken shape of the profile of the Madonna.