Our Lady of Madhu Feast – Sri Lankan Catholic Community of Infernetto

A Sinhalese devotion in the heart of the Roman coast

In Infernetto, a district of the 10th Municipality of Rome, within the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital and the Lazio region, the Santa Maria dei Pellegrini parish on Via Bernardo Pasquini has long been the spiritual home for the capital's Sri Lankan Catholic community. Every last Sunday of May, it hosts the Our Lady of Madhu Feast, honoring the Virgin venerated in the eponymous shrine in northern Sri Lanka—a pilgrimage site that has welcomed faithful of all ethnic backgrounds on the island, both Sinhalese and Tamil, even during the harshest years of the civil conflict.

Rome's largest Sri Lankan community

The community gathering in Infernetto brings together faithful from Ostia, Casal Palocco, Acilia, Axa, and Infernetto: over 5,000 people, making it the largest of the four Sri Lankan communities in Rome. Here, alongside Sunday services in their native language, the parish hosts catechism and socio-cultural activities that keep the language and heritage of their homeland alive for families and the second generation born and raised in Italy.

The flag tree, a unique ritual in Italy

The most distinctive feature of the feast is the flag tree: a tall pole raised on the Saturday that opens the celebrations, marking the start of a seven-day novena during which the faithful prepare spiritually for the solemnity. The tradition is rooted in the island's missionary history: the tree's height served to signal from miles away the arrival of a priest in the village to celebrate mass, hear confessions, and bless the sick. Today, each family ties a small flag to it as a token of gratitude for graces received. The Infernetto community is the only one in Italy to maintain this ritual.

The solemn mass and distinguished guests

The highlight is the solemn Eucharistic celebration on Sunday, often presided over by prominent figures of the Sri Lankan Church: in recent years, the liturgy has been led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Metropolitan Archbishop of Colombo, and the Abbot General of the Sylvestrine Benedictine Congregation, Shamindra Jayawardena. Joining them are the chaplain of Rome's Sri Lankan community, Monsignor Neville Perera, and numerous Sri Lankan priests studying at Rome's pontifical universities. The mass is also an occasion for the first communions and confirmations of the community's youth, which in some years have numbered over forty.

The community lunch and celebrations

Following the liturgy, the day continues with a community lunch prepared by volunteers, where Sri Lankan cuisine—rice and curry, sambol, and spiced sweets—is shared with many Italian friends from the neighborhood. The event concludes with traditional music, singing, and dancing, transforming the parish square into a small corner of Sri Lanka overlooking the Castel Fusano pine forest.

Why it is worth attending

• An authentic Marian rite, celebrated in Sinhalese and Tamil as well as Italian
• The flag tree, a unique example of this tradition in all of Italy
• A community lunch open to Italian guests, featuring authentic Sri Lankan home cooking
• A vibrant testament to the new Catholic faces of Rome and the Lazio region

The Infernetto feast is an event that perfectly captures the Rome of today: a devotion brought from an island in the Indian Ocean that has taken root on the Roman coast, drawing thousands of faithful every May to a suburb in the capital's southwest.