Celestina Dias

Celestina Dias MBE
Celestina Dias aka Mrs. Jeremias Dias
Born	(1858-07-11)11 July 1858 Nalluruwa, Panadura
Died	26 March 1933(1933-03-26) (aged 74) Panadura
Nationality	Ceylonese
Other names	Mrs. Jeremias Dias
Occupation	philanthropist, businesswoman
Spouse(s)	Jeramias Dias

Patthinihennadige Warnadeepthia Kurukulasuriya Selestina Rodrigo (known as Mrs. Jeremias Dias; 11 July 1858 – 26 March 1933) was a Ceylonese philanthropist and businesswoman.[1] She was a pioneer in the field of Buddhist Girls' education and women entrepreneurs. She was the founding patron (1917) of the premier Buddhist School for girls in Sri Lanka; Visakha Vidyalaya, located in Bambalapitiya, Colombo.

She was born in the coastal town of Nalluruwa, Panadura to an old aristocratic family. Her father was Pattinihennadige Warnadeepthia Kurukulasuriya Salaman Rodrigo and her mother was Mahawaduge Madalena Perera. She was the third in a family of seven girls and two boys. They were proprietors of coconut property, distillers, renters and exporters of arrack, one of the few avenues open to natives for growth and enterprise during the early colonial period. They were also pioneers in the rubber and the hotel industry.

She married Jeramias Dias of Panadura, a businessman, planter and pioneer Buddhist revivalist, who was instrumental in organizing the world famous "Panadura Vivadaya/Debate". They had eight children; Harry, Lillian, Arthur Vincent, Edmund Wilson, Adeline, Ellen, Rosalind and Charles. After the death of her husband in 1902, she became the managing director of the business concerns of the family. The "Panadura Vivadaya/Debate" was the turning point in the Buddhist revival movement in the island, which attracted the likes of Henry Steel Olcott. What is not quite so famous is that the Weslyan chapel was also built by the Rodrigo family and Mathaes Swaris Rodrigo Goonewardane, the churchwarden on whose land the church was built invited the parties for a debate.