The Gozo Cathedral calendar has kept its annual appointment with the parishioners as it has done uninterruptedly for the past 52 years. First published by archpriest Carmelo Scicluna, the calendar is presumably the only one that have never missed an issue since 1971.

The 2022 edition commemorates the 125th anniversary of the arrival in Gozo of one of the most cherished possessions at the cathedral ‒ the statue of Santa Marija.

Acquired by the Leone Philharmonic Society from the Fabbrica di Statue Religiose, Rome, in 1897, the statue arrived in Gozo in July 1897. It was blessed by Bishop Giovanni Maria Camilleri upon its arrival at the church of St James at It-Tokk, on August 13. Since its arrival in Gozo, every August 13, the statue was paraded along the streets of Victoria and then raised on a plinth at It-Tokk. On April 29, 1956, the society donated the statue to the cathedral.

The calendar commemorates this anniversary with a number of historic photos, the earliest of which dates to 1913. A number of these photos, spanning 110 years, are being published for the first time. Each photo is accompanied by an explanatory note written by historian Fr Joseph Bezzina.

Welcoming this year’s special calendar is cathedral Mgr Joseph Gauci, 89, one of the most elderly priests in Gozo.  Mgr Gauci, or Dun Ġużepp as most of the Gozitans know him, is the brother of two other late priests, Mgr Anton Gauci and Mgr Giovanni Bosco Gauci.