Last Sunday, Kerċem celebrated the feast of its patron, St Gregory the Great, who died in Rome on March 12, 604.

Kerċem marks the liturgical feast of the saint on September 3.

Evidence of the great devotion the inhabitants of this village have towards St Gregory is the fact that many families christen their children after the saint. Although this practice has somewhat declined lately, it is characteristic of people hailing from Kerċem who are named Girgor, Gori or Gregoria.

The incidence is found here more than in any other village.

Moreover, strolling along the streets of Kerċem, one encounters several homes named after St Gregory. Incidentally, the Gauci family also has a mosaic representation of the saint affixed to the façade of their home. This artistic mosaic is the work of Fr Robert Gauci, Eikon director – the Centre for Liturgical Arts of the Diocese of Gozo.

St Gregory the Great, Pope from 590 to 604, was a reformer and excellent administrator. He was the founder of the medieval papacy, which exercised both secular and spiritual power.

His epithet ‘the Great’ reflects the saint’s status as a writer as well as a ruler. As the fourth and final of the traditional Latin Fathers of the Church, Gregory was the first exponent of a truly medieval, sacramental spirituality.