The 399-year-old bust-reliquary of the saint at the Gozo Cathedral.

Tomorrow is the feast of St Ursula, patron saint of Gozo and co-titular of the Gozo Cathedral, during which Gozo Bishop Mario Grech will preside over a pontifical Mass at the cathedral at 6pm.

According to an ancient narrative, Ursula was a princess from Britannia who left her homeland with a group of women to carry out missionary activity among the Germanic tribes. An old tradition, partly proved archaeologically, relates that she died a martyr outside the then Roman town of Cologne. A church, that still stands, was built over the spot where she was buried.

In 1614 – 399 years ago – Eugenio-Romirez Maldonado, Governor of Gozo, donated a bust-reliquary of the saint, acquired in his home city of Salamanca, to the Matrice, now the Cathedral of Gozo.

The Gozitans were full of devotion for the saint, and a few years later, during the time of the Knights, both the church and the regional government declared St Ursula patron saint of Gozo.

The Gozitans sought her intercession against the invasions by the locusts that devastated their fields, against the dreadful bubonic plague and cholera, as well as earthquakes.

Her feast was a holy day of obligation in Gozo. During the year, three processions were held in thanksgiving. The first took place on the second Sunday in January, for the deliverance of Gozo from the 1693 earthquake, in which civil authorities participated in full.

The second was held in September, when the bust of the saint was placed at the entrance of the Banca Giuratale, the seat of the regional government of Gozo, where a short ceremony was held; the third event is the feast day tomorrow.

In preparation for the celebration of its fourth centenary, the bust of the saint is going to be restored with the help of the Ministry for Gozo.

An exhibition and a commemorative publication are also in the pipeline for October next year.