Big Durres congregation pays last respects to Fr Gwann

A large congregation packed Durres cathedral yesterday morning at a Mass praesente cadavere for Fr Gwann Frendo OP, who died in Albania on Thursday, the Dominican Province said yesterday.

The congregation included nuns whom he worked with and taught, and poor people from surrounding villages.

They came to pay their last respects to a priest who the Archbishop of Durres-Tirana described as a missionary with remarkable energy and zeal.

The archbishop, Mgr Rok Mirdita, presided at the Mass, which was also attended by his vicar Fr George Frendo, three bishops and 39 missionary priests working in Albania.

Fr Gwann, 65, died suddenly while working with Dominican novices at the library of the Dominican Home in Durres.

In his homily, Mgr Mirdita had high praise for Fr Frendo's enthusiasm and work rate, both in working for the poor and in helping the local Church especially in the areas of formation and the liturgy.

The Dominican Province said Fr Frendo's body was being flown to Malta this morning at 11.25 p.m. on an Alitalia flight from Rome.

From the airport, the body will be taken by cortege to the Dominican Convent in Rabat where the public can pay their last respects until 8 p.m., as well as tomorrow between 8 a.m. and noon and 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and on Monday between 8 a.m. and noon.

The funeral will be held on Monday, when a cortege will leave for the church of St Dominic at 2.15 p.m., where Mass praesente cadavere will be said.

Afterwards, Fr Frendo will be buried at Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery.