The feast of St Anthony the Abbot will be celebrated in Xagħra on Sunday. Xagħra archpriest Carmelo Refalo and Canon Michael Galea, the chapel’s rector, will lead the translation of relic on Saturday at 5.15pm, followed by solemn vespers and concelebrated Mass, led by Mgr Refalo. Anna Azzopardi, accompanied by Anna Magrin on the organ, will animate the celebration.

On Sunday, the statue of St Anthony will be taken out in procession to the square, where the rector will bless horses at 2.30pm.

The Victory Band will then accompany the statue along the streets of the village. At 5pm, as the statue arrives at Pjazza Sant’Anton, Bishop Anton Teuma will lead the traditional blessing of pets and their owners. A bag of barley and biscuits will be given to participants. The celebrations will be concluded with Mass at 7pm.

St Antony the Abbot (251–356) was born in Egypt and passed most of his long life in solitude.

Devotion to the saint is deeply rooted in Gozo. A chapel in his honour, perched upon il-Qaċċa, the highest point of Xagħra, is recorded in the early 1400s. In 1575, the chapel had a small cemetery in front and on April 28, 1688, it became the seat of the newly-founded parish of Xagħra. The first parish priest was Fr Bernard Formosa.

The plague of 1814, which took the lives of 104 people, was fiercest in the area around the chapel.

When the plague was over, some items in the church, including the altar painting were burnt to disinfect the place. The present painting, depicting St Anthony with the population of Xagħra under tents during the plague, was painted by Dun Salv Bondi in 1816.