Canonisation expected this year or the next

The canonisation of Dun Gorg Preca, to become Malta's first saint, is expected this year or the next.

Ecclesiastical Tribunal president Mgr Arthur Said Pullicino - who back in the 1970s started compiling the evidence which eventually led to Dun Gorg's beatification in 2001 - believes that Dun Gorg's sainthood is now "almost a certainty". The tribunal did the preliminary work before the case was passed on to the Congregation for Sainthood Causes.

"I am convinced that he will be declared a saint. If it does not happen this year, it will be next year. Dun Gorg appeals to the Church worldwide because he was a promoter of God's message," he said. "Obviously, we cannot anticipate what the Pope will do, but procedure-wise there is nothing more we can do," he said.

Dar tal-Providenza director Lawrence Grech would like the canonisation to take place next year, since Pope Benedict XVI has called a synod on the dissemination of God's word in 2008.

"It would be fitting for Dun Gorg to be proclaimed a saint then since he was a big promoter of God's word," he said, adding that if the canonisation took place this year the Pope could still use him as an example of the dissemination of God's message.

The process to make Dun Gorg a saint has reached its final stages with the approval of a second miracle by the Congregation for Sainthood Causes in Rome last week.

Mgr Said Pullicino said: "First there was the delicate process of proving that Dun Gorg had the virtues of a saint. We collected around 1,000 pages of testimonies."

Once it was proved that Dun Gorg had really lived those virtues, they needed a miracle. This came about in February 1964 when Charles Zammit Endrich's detached retina healed after he placed a relic of Dun Gorg under his pillow. In 2001, Pope John Paul II beatified Dun Gorg during a ceremony on the Granaries in Floriana.

But there was still the need for a second miracle for Dun Gorg to be declared a saint. Mgr Said Pullicino pointed out that for this to be valid it had to take place after the beatification. Last week the Congregation for Sainthood Causes declared that a baby boy, who developed liver complications 20 days after his birth in 2001, miraculously recovered through the intercession of Dun Gorg.

Asked what is expected to happen next, Mgr Said Pullicino said sometime in the next few months the congregation would present its results to Pope Benedict XVI.

"Then the Pope will call a formal meeting of the cardinals residing in Rome to ask whether it is opportune to canonise Dun Gorg, since this is no longer in the sole interest of Malta and Gozo, but of the Church as a whole."

Once things have gone so far, it is almost certain that Dun Gorg will be canonised, he reiterated.

Dun Gorg Preca is remembered best for founding the Society of Christian Doctrine, popularly known as the Museum.

He was born in Valletta in February 1880 but his family later moved to Birkirkara and then on to Hamrun. He was educated at the Lyceum and the Seminary and was ordained in 1906.

The following year he opened a first small house to teach catechism to youngsters in Hamrun. The first few years were difficult and in a bid to help those teaching catechism Dun Gorg started writing numerous books.

Although the local church felt the need for the society, it feared that its members were not sufficiently trained and in 1909 Dun Gorg was ordered to close down all his teaching houses. But the order was soon retracted and in 1932 the society was approved by Archbishop Mauro Caruana. After that Dun Gorg guided the society with greater calm and everyone revered him as a saint.

Both Dun Gorg and the society were affected adversely by World War II, but the society continued to expand and in 1952 spread to Australia. That same year Dun Gorg was nominated Papal Secret Chamberlain, with the title of Monsignor. But he never donned a monsignor's vestment and never bothered to have his nomination confirmed.

Dun Gorg continued to teach in all towns and villages in Malta and Gozo until his death in 1962 in Sta Venera, where he moved after a lifetime in Hamrun. Many people were enchanted by his words and deeds. In 1975 Archbishop Michael Gonzi issued the decree starting the process for his canonisation.