Għarb celebrates feast of The Visitation
23rd edition of the traditional ‘infjorata’ on the church parvis to be held on Sunday
The feast of The Visitation is being celebrated in Għarb on Sunday, July 6.
On Saturday, eve of the feast, Mgr Carmelo Gauci will celebrate mass for the elderly at 9.30am, including the Te Deum and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Cathedral archpriest, Joseph Sultana, will celebrate mass at 6.30pm. The children’s choir, directed by Maxine Debrincat, will animate the liturgy. Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma will lead the procession with the relic from the Eucharistic chapel to the basilica at 7.30pm, followed by solemn vespers, the Salve Regina and the litany in honour of Our Lady and Holy Host benediction.
On Sunday, July 6, feast day, Bishop Teuma will lead a solemn concelebrated mass, with the participation of members of the cathedral chapter and the collegiate chapter of Għarb, at 9am. Mgr Teuma will also deliver the panegyric. The Missa Visitationis Beatae Mariae Virginis by Mro Paul Portelli, with the participation of the parish choir directed by maestro di cappella Antoine Mercieca, will be performed. The St Margaret Band will play marches at 11.30am.
Second vespers by the collegiate chapter will be led by archpriest Trevor Sultana at 6.30pm. The procession, with the titular statue, accompanied by the Visitation Band, will leave the church at 7.30pm.
Meanwhile, the 23rd edition of the traditional infjorata, designed by Michael Bajada, will also be held on the basilica’s parvis on Sunday. It is an initiative of the Għarb local council, the Assoċjazzjoni Espressjoni Arti Maltija (Għarb), the Gozo ministry and the parish.
The celebrations will be broadcast on Radio Visitation 92.4 FM.
Għarb was established parish on August 29, 1679. The church façade was designed on Francesco Borromini’s St Agnes in Piazza Navona, Rome. Work on its foundations started in 1699 and it took 30 years to complete. The church was blessed in 1729 and was consecrated on September 28, 1755. The church became the second collegiate of Gozo with a chapter of canons on May 19, 1774. It was elevated to a minor basilica on November 28, 1967.
The altarpiece, by Gian-Nikol Buhagiar (1698-1752), depicts the visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth.