The feast of St Isidore was celebrated yesterday at St Francis church in Victoria. The statue of the saint was recently restored by PrevArti, of Mosta, partly financed by Eco Gozo.

The statue belonged to the Gozo cathedral but it is unknown how it was acquired. Around 1795, after a request by Fr Guardian, Michelangelo Axisa, the Cathedral Chapter donated it to the Franciscans. It features among the items spared by the French during their occupation of Gozo in 1798.

A document by artist Carlo Carnazza was found glued in a sealed hollowed section of the statue. The discovery was noticed with a special inspection camera.

The note says that the statue was finished by an otherwise unknown sculptor from Catania on May 10, 1665, making it one of the oldest sculpted in wood found in Gozo.