The Rt. Rev. Dr. Cletus C. Perera OSB. Silv.,passed away peacefully on the morning of August 24th, 2026, at the age of 78. Born in Seeduwa, Sri Lanka, in 1947, he gave his life to God from an early age, embracing the monastic path with faith and generosity. He made his first profession in 1965 and his solemn profession in 1971, before being ordained to the priesthood in 1973. In 2002, he was elected Conventual Prior of the Conventual Priory of Saint Sylvester, Abbot, in Sri Lanka, serving with humility and simplicity until 2007. That same year, on 11th July, he was consecrated Bishop at the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome, and on 28th July 2007 he was installed as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Ratnapura.
For seventeen years, he walked faithfully with the people of Ratnapura through times of difficulty and uncertainty, offering them the steady presence of a loving shepherd, marked by simplicity, gentleness, and deep closeness to God. He retired in 2024. In his final years, he was lovingly and tenderly cared for by the Benedictine Sisters of Grace and Compassion at St. Joan’s Home, Ja-Ela, Colombo. He was a man of deep prayer and gentle humour. He genuinely cared for the poor and forgotten both within and outside the cloister. His life was a rare manifestation of the hereditary sanctity of the eight hundred-year-old Sylvestrine Benedictine spirituality. This rare spiritual quality was abundantly manifested, especially in his long-term cancer, which accompanied him closely for most of his ministerial life.
The life he lived and the name he bore will continue to be associated with virtue, integrity, and goodness, both in life and beyond death. Those who knew him may rightly remember him among those noble souls whom the world honours for having lived and died not for themselves, but for God, for others, and for a cause greater than their own. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. Requiescat in Pace.