Letters to the editor - October 3, 2024

Setting the record straight

Reference is made to Fr Karl Andrew Schembri’s article ‘Venerated icon of Our Lady of Mellieħa crowned 125 years ago’ (September 24).

While appreciating the spiritual and historical information provided, particularly relating to the crowning itself 125 years ago, allow me to clarify certain ‘discoveries’ attributed to the 2016 restoration.

In fact, the archaeological recovery of the original images of the figures of the Madonna and Child, including the inscription MAT(ER) D(OMINI), the highlights around the halo and the very subtly discernible finger tip of the Madonna (as can be seen in the accompanying photo taken just after the 1972 restoration) were the painstaking and professional work of Samuel Bugeja in 1972.

He single-handedly did the archaeological recovery crouched in the cramped niche at the age of 52.

Micro-clearing enabled the archaeological recovery. Careful contemporary restoration techniques were used by the fully qualified and experienced Bugeja in 1972. These professional techniques were favourably recognised and published and openly stated by leading art critics Prof. Mario Buhagiar and E.V. Borg, besides university academic researchers published pre-2016.

All research states that the original late 13th century icon was painted directly on natural rock and it only managed to remain protected because of the 16th century thick ‘intonaco’ layer that served as a substrate to the 16th century fresco painting.

The 16th century fresco had degraded completely by the 20th century. It was Bugeja who was commissioned by the ecclesiastical authorities to archaeologically recover the original icon that lay below the ‘intonaco’.

More details can be found on the website Samuelbugeja.com, which we siblings administer.

The Siculo-Byzantinesque wall icon of the Madonna and Child at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieħa.

Admittedly, 40 years after the archaeological recovery, further restoration took place in 2016 using modern scientific equipment available. This second phase of restoration also features on the Samuelbugeja.com website.

Since Bugeja passed away in 2004, we miss his opinion on the 2016 restoration.

However, in his usual professional way of conduct, Bugeja kept all relevant documents of his work on the icon and these are reproduced on the website. As his family, we treasure and share them for any updates that research yields from time to time.

Luckily, Bugeja had the satisfaction of being invited to the sanctuary when St Pope John Paul II visited and prayed with profound devotion in front of the original icon in 1990. At the time, the 1899 crown – that we now celebrate its 125th anniversary – had retained its 1899 installation because, during the 1972 archaeological recovery of the icon, the crown’s position was deemed an integral part of the history of the shrine.

It is to be noted that the article by Fr Schembri does not make any such relocation reference despite the subject of the article being specifically the 125th celebration of the crowning.

Joe Bugeja – Attard