The 141st anniversary of the manifestation of the Blessed Virgin to Karmni Grima is being marked on Saturday. Mellieħa archpriest and rector of the national shrine of Our Lady of Mellieħa, Fr Joe Caruana, on Thursday led a pilgrimage to commemorate the crowning of the sanctuary’s altarpiece in 1935. The Santa Ċeċilja choir took part.

On Saturday, masses will be said at 6am, 7.30 and 11am. Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma will lead a Pontifical Mass at 9am with the participation of the Stella Maris choir. Mass at 6pm and second vespers will be led by Għarb archpriest Mgr Trevor Sultana, together with the collegiate chapter. The Għarb parish choir will take part. A second Pontifical Mass will be presided by Archbishop Charles Scicluna at 7.30pm. The Chorus Urbanus will participate.

In a book published some years ago, entitled Santa Marija ta’ Gentile, Gozo historian, Mgr Joseph Bezzina, traces the foundation of the tiny chapel known to locals as Santa Marija ta’ Gentile by the Calimera family of Gozo to around 1402. Like similar chapels around Gozo, the chapel was in a state of dilapidation. Early in the 17th century, the chapel passed under the care of Pinu Gauci, who in 1619 donated the present Assumption altarpiece. From then onwards, the chapel became known as Ta’ Pinu.

Up to 1883, it was another wayside chapel with a few devotees from the neighbourhood. On June 22 of that year, Grima, a peasant spinster who had fields close to the chapel, received a mysterious call saying: “Recite three Hail Marys in honour of the three days that my body rested in the tomb.” This secret was revealed two-and-a-half years later, when a woman was miraculously cured after invoking the Virgin Mary of Ta’ Pinu.

By the beginning of 1887, several pilgrimages were organised to the chapel, thus covering its four walls with ex-votos. The ecclesiastical authorities, very cautious at first, heeded the message of the Virgin Mary and decided to build a shrine adjoining the old chapel that was to remain intact. The foundation stone was laid on May 30, 1920 and consecrated on December 13, 1931.

Both Pontifical Masses tomorrow will be broadcast live on UTV, Radju Marija (102.3FM) and the Gozo diocese and Ta’ Pinu sanctuary social media pages.