SRI LANKA, 1983, Scott 674

After schooling in his birthplace Kalutara, Colombo and Pettah, and after a brief stint working in a government office, Simon Perera joined the Jesuits at the age of 23. He was the first Sinhalese to join the Society of Jesus. He did his Jesuit training in India and Rome, where he was appointed professor of missiology at the Gregorian University, formerly the Roman College. In 1939 he returned to Sri Lanka, and served as a teacher at St. Aloysius College, Galle and as principal, St. Servatius College, Matara, and also as vicar general of the Diocese of Galle. The translated the monumental Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon, he also researched the history of his country from the time of the Portuguese conquest down to 1948, to produce his influential History of Ceylon, and other works, like The Jesuit in Ceylon (In the XVI and XVII Centuries).

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