The 49th anniversary of the Apostolic consecration of His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso, the world’s second Apostle chosen by Jesus Christ’s appearance and the first Sri Lankan Apostle, was celebrated with great reverence on the evening of February 24, 2024, at Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine, Sri Lanka. The event commemorated nearly five decades since His elevation to the “Apostleship.”
All twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus Christ during His earthly life were of Jewish descent. The first Apostle selected after Christ’s ascension, through a divine apparition, was also of Jewish origin.
On February 24, 2024, His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso officially commemorated 49 years in His Apostleship, marking the beginning of His 50th year, or Golden Jubilee. This celebration highlights a significant shift in Apostolic history. Until February 7, 1975, when Jesus Christ appeared in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, and appointed His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso, the Apostolate had been limited to those of Jewish descent. His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso’s appointment as the world’s first Sri Lankan Apostle in the final quarter of the 20th century broke this tradition, with Jesus Christ bestowing the Apostleship upon a Sri Lankan for the first time.
His Holiness Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso celebrated His traditional 49th anniversary High Mass at the Apparition Church within Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine, Sri Lanka. This Apparition Church holds significant importance as it is where Jesus Christ appeared to appoint the world’s first Sri Lankan Apostle and the second Apostle chosen through apparition. It is also where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared twenty-three times, including a special apparition on July 27, 1977 – Her eighteenth appearance – where She held the infant Jesus in Her left arm. Commemorating these events, His Holiness Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso conducted the Holy Mass before the main statue of the Blessed Mother holding the infant Jesus.
“The exact location where Jesus Christ stood to appoint His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso – who was appointed as the Second Apostle of the world through apparition – is preserved near the main altar in the Apparition Church, along with the piece of earth touched by His feet. Additionally, the sacred shroud that touched Jesus Christ’s feet during that occasion is enshrined beneath the main altar. This sacred shroud has now completed 49 years, and the most miraculous aspect is that it bears the imprinted footmarks of Jesus Christ Himself.”
His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso marks 49 years as the second divinely appointed Apostle since His Holiness Apostle Paul.
His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso, the second Apostle chosen through a divine apparition of Jesus Christ 1910 years after the death of Holy Apostle Paul (the first Apostle selected through a apparition of Christ after His ascension), has completed 49 years in His Apostleship. His Holiness Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso, who currently resides at Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine in Sri Lanka and has thus far escaped assassination attempts, now becomes the second Apostle in history to serve for 49 years.
The first Apostle to complete 49 years in His Apostleship was His Holiness Apostle John, one of the original twelve disciples chosen by Jesus during His staying on this earth. Holy Apostle John’s death occurred after the turn of the first century AD.
This milestone of His Holiness Rohan Lalith Aponso coincides with the 49th anniversary of on His Apostleship, bridging a gap of nearly two millennia in the tradition of divinely appointed Apostleship and drawing parallels to the Apostles of early Christianity.
Photos show here His Holiness Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso celebrating the High Mass marking the 49th anniversary of His Apostolate. The ceremony took place in the Apparition Church at Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine in Sri lanka
