Malta and Gozo today celebrate the feast of Santa Marija, the Assumption of Our Lady.

The parishes of Ghaxaq, Gudja, Mosta, Mqabba, Qrendi, and Attard will hold a variety of activities, including morning marches. In Gozo, the feast is celebrated in Victoria.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna celebrated Mass in Mosta.

The feast of Santa Marija is closely connected with the second world war.

A flotilla of 15 merchant ships in the company of a huge British naval escort, the convoy Operation Pedestal, entered the Mediterranean on the night of August 10, 1942 to bring much needed food, fuel and spare parts to besieged Malta, which was on the point of surrendering.

Only five of the merchant ships survived the Axis onslaught. One was the tanker Ohio, which limped into Grand Harbour on August 15, 1942, sending the  population into rapture.

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