Feast of Immaculate Conception to be celebrated in Victoria and Qala

The feast of the Immaculate Conception will be celebrated at St Francis of Assisi church in Victoria on Monday, December 8.

Fr Guardian Etienne Gilson, OFM Conv., will lead a concelebrated mass on Sunday at 9.30am, the last day of the novena. The Te Deum will be sung.

The translation of the relic, led by Fr Provincial Paul Darmanin, OFM Conv., will be held at 5.15pm. The Laudate Pueri choir, directed by Canon George Frendo, will take part.

Solemn mass, led by Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma, with the participation the Chorus Urbanus, directed by Mro John Galea, will be held at 6.30pm.

Cathedral archpriest Noel Saliba will lead a concelebrated mass on Monday, December 8, at 9.30am, while Fontana parish priest Canon Simon M. Cachia will deliver the panegyric. The Laudate Pueri choir will take part.

The procession with the statue of the Immaculate Conception will leave the church at 6pm, accompanied by La Stella Band of Victoria. The Mnarja Band of Nadur will perform a musical programme near the church.

Meanwhile, a music and literature academy was held at the church on November 29, during which Pierre Bugeja presented a detailed explanation about the restoration of the statue of the Immaculate Conception by PrevArti Ltd – Art Conservation & Restoration.

This year, the statue has also been decorated with a new garland made by Joshua Mercieca.

The sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception in Qala.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception will also be celebrated at Qala’s national sanctuary. Tomorrow, Sunday, eve of the feast, Fr Massimo Buttigieg will preside over a concelebrated mass at 8.30am with the participation of children.

A procession organised by the St Joseph Festivity Association will follow. It will start from St Kerrew Square and proceed along Conception Street amid the festive atmosphere and joyful participation of children and the Ite ad Joseph Band.

The translation of the relic will be held at 6pm, followed by concelebrated mass by archpriest Edward Xuereb.

On Monday, the feast day, Bishop Teuma will celebrate pontifical mass at 9.30am. Mro Frankie Debono will conduct the orchestra.

The 71st edition of the traditional motorcycles pilgrimage will leave Ta’ Pinu sanctuary for Qala at 1.30pm.

The procession with the statue of the Immaculate Conception will leave the church at 4.45pm, accompanied by the Ite ad Joseph Band of Qala.

Devotion to the Immaculate Conception in Qala dates back to medieval times. Bishop Baldassar Cagliares, who visited the church on November 21, 1615, noted that notwithstanding the fact that the church was situated on the eastern tip of Gozo, it was “frequented with the greatest devotion by the faithful from all over the island”.

After witnessing this great devotion, Bishop Cagliares decided to donate an oil-on-canvas painting depicting the Immaculate Conception to the church rector Fr Domenico Apap.

The statue of the Immaculate Conception was sculpted in Marseille, France, by the firm Gallard et Fils, and brought to Gozo in 1887.