Ċentru Studju Dun Ġorġ, within the Society of Christian Doctrine MUSEUM, is organising a public lecture by David Aloisio on March 7 at the Ħanin Samaritan Conference Hall, Triq Palazz l-Aħmar, Santa Venera, at 7pm.
The evening will also include the launch of the journal Dun Ġorġ issue 50, a commemorative edition with the writings and speeches of Oliver Friggieri on St George Preca.
As Ġorġ Borg, a poet and member of the Museum, writes in the introduction to this special edition, “These writings, by themselves, are an invaluable document of how much Oliver Friggieri was not only influenced by Dun Ġorġ but also of how much he, for his part, studied and studied this saint.
“Professor Friggieri’s reflections are the result of attentive listening to the talks and careful reading of Dun Ġorġ’s writings and, not least, the experience he gained in the few meetings he had with him.”
St George Preca (1880-1962) was born in Valletta but lived mainly in Ħamrun. As a priest, he dedicated his whole life to evangelisation and was the founder of the Society of Christian Doctrine known as MUSEUM in 1907. When he declared him a saint in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI called him “a deeply mystical and priestly soul, who entrusted himself to the love of God, Jesus and the Virgin Mary.”
A man who did not belong in this world
Dun Ġorġ wrote more than a 100 books, most of them in Maltese, because, as Friggieri wrote in 1974 in the same journal that is now commemorating him, Dun Ġorġ “immediately used the Maltese word, no matter how he knew it, to teach to the multitude. He used his light language, and today he should be considered one of those who carried out with facts, and not with theories, the truth of using the local word for all kinds of learning.”
What was Dun Ġorġ for Oliver Friggieri?
When, in 1987, he went to speak to the members of the Museum at the General House of Blata l-Bajda, he ended his speech by telling them that Dun Ġorġ “was a man who did not belong in this world and who lived waiting to go back to his place. In the meantime, he tried to drag everyone with him, with the word that was action and the action that was revealed in the word.”
On the same occasion, he said, “Dun Ġorġ was a different man who arouses curiosity and tempts you to discover him. It is not a neutral or abstract difference since it resulted from acquired holiness. In the field of writing, he is considered a writer who has made a great contribution to the people. In the field of sermons, he is remembered as a speaker who captivated thousands of people for long hours.
“In social work, he is considered a philanthropist because he taught, created awareness, and gathered the children every evening. In the organisation field, he is considered the founder of a movement that spread throughout the country and beyond... The main impression remains in our minds: we who were lucky enough to see him speak as if stunned by His God, we who must raise him from the grave and give him our time, to everyone, and especially outside these walls that still have the fragrance of his sanctity.”
The public is invited to the talk by David Aloisio on March 7 at the Ħanin Samaritan Conference Hall, Triq Palazz l-Aħmar, Santa Venera, at 7pm. There is no payment for this talk and there is no need to book for it. For more information, one can e-mail csdg@sdcmuseum.org.