Pope Francis on Wednesday added to the Catholic Church's roster of saints a missionary who preached in Sri Lanka, Joseph Vaz, at a mass celebrated in the island nation's capital, Colombo.

The Pope told the gathered faithful that Saint Joseph Vaz showed religious tolerance - something the people of Sri Lanka can learn from. The canonization is the end to three centuries of campaigning to acknowledge the missionary's holiness.

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The pontiff said Vaz showed Christians the way to reconciliation, justice and peace in Sri Lanka.

Pope John Paul beatified Vaz, the first step to sainthood, during a visit to Sri Lanka two decades ago. Born in 1651 in what was then Portuguese Goa, Vaz made his way to Sri Lanka dressed as a beggar but was later captured as a suspected spy.

He sought to intervene in the Dutch's persecution of Catholics in the tropical country, which was then divided into kingdoms. He worked for years under the protection of a Buddhist king.

He dedicated five years converting locals in the lowlands before moving to Kandy in the highlands, where he was detained under suspicion of spying for Portugal.

After nearly a year in prison, he managed to convince Kandy's powerful Buddhist monarch that he was a priest, based on historical texts from the 17th century quoted in a religious website.

Vaz won the heart of his powerful Buddhist patron who provided safe refuge from the Dutch. The missionary's standing as a holy man was built among the locals when he supposedly made it rain during a dry spell.

Vaz lived in Kandy until his death in 1711, at the age of 60, after he brought to the Catholic fold some 30,000 people and organized a group of local priests. His work almost single-handedly renewed Catholicism in what was then known as the island of Ceylon.