The third parish from last to have been established in the diocese of Gozo, before those of Għasri and Munxar, was that of Fontana, a tiny village that for hundreds of years formed part of the old town of Rabat (Victoria) and which was synonymous with fishermen and the sea, being on the way to Xlendi, one of Gozo’s most renowned bays and once a Byzantine harbour. It was made a parish in 1911.

Towards parish status

Gozitan historian Joseph Bezzina has called Fontana “the village of valleys and springs”, as it is indeed. In fact, in old documents, the locality was referred to as Gran Fontana, which literally translated means ‘Great Fountain’. Even the Latin motto of the area, Inundatione Ferax, is faithfully translated as ‘fertile through inundation’.

The Gran Fontana, which literally translated means ‘Great Fountain’, at Fontana. Photo courtesy of Fr John Mejlak

The people of the locality used to refer to the place either as ‘L-Għajn il-Kbira’ or simply as ‘Triq tal-Għajn’. It was only with the establishment of the first local council that the locality began to be referred to officially as Fontana. However, it was when the area was given its own parish that L-Għajn il-Kbir received its first formal status. The inhabitants used to frequent one of the two parishes of Victoria, and the majority of them were parishioners of St George’s, which is only a stone’s throw away from Fontana. In fact, Victoria and Fontana overlap and one hardly notices where the former town ends to make space for the village itself.

Bishop Camilleri’s wish

Situated in an area consisting of a slope on the southwestern side of the medieval town of Rabat, the people wanted to have their own church, which they managed to build in spite of the various difficulties they came across. It was then during the first decade of the 20th century that some of the locals wanted their church to have parish status.

The story has it then when apostolic visitor Mgr Pietro La Fontaine came to visit from Rome, the priest-in-charge accompanied the Roman prelate, who hailed from Viterbo, to the roof of the presbytery, directing his hand to the cathedral within the Citadel walls, explaining to him that that was the parish that the faithful had to walk to in order to address their spiritual needs. He never mentioned to him St George’s parish church – which at the time was without a dome – in order to give the impression that the nearest parish church was quite far away. If the story is true, it must have convinced the apostolic visitor because in a short period of time, Fontana became a parish.

Bishop Giovanni Maria Camilleri decided that rather than dedicate the parish to St Andrew the Apostle, patron saint of fishermen, it should be dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Photo: J.J.P. Zammit

The people of the village wanted their parish church to be dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle, patron saint of fishermen. However, the diocesan bishop, Fra Giovanni Maria Camilleri, a member of the Augustinian Order of friars, expressed his wish that the newly-established parish should be dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

This was not the first time in the history of the Maltese islands that the diocesan bishop intervened in the naming of a parish. Gozitan-born Bishop Gaetano Pace Forno had also intervened when the new parish of Ħamrun was established; while the populace had decided in favour of St Joseph, he decided that the newly-erected parish would be dedicated to St Cajetan of Thiene, his own patron saint. He blessed the foundation stone of the church in 1869.

Exterior of Fontana parish church. Photo: Francesco Pio Attard

The church façade lit up on the feast day. Photo: Francesco Pio Attard

The Fontana church was to be the only parish church dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the entire Maltese islands. The parish was founded on March 27, 1911. It was dismembered de facto, if not de jure, from St George’s parish church. To this very day, you will find a devotional picture of the saint in many of the households in Fontana from where in the past many bandsmen of La Stella Vincintrice Band of Victoria hailed.

The statue

It is popular tradition that every parish church would have its own titular statue. On the main island, the statue of the apostle Paul, revered in his parish-collegiate church in Valletta and sculpted by Melchiorre Gafà, and the statue of Our Lady of Victories, revered in Senglea, are among the oldest. In Gozo, the first titular statues were those of St George in Victoria and St John the Baptist in Xewkija, both sculpted in wood by Pietro Paolo Azzopardi.

Therefore, it was quite natural for the people of Fontana to think of having a statue of their own. The statue was made in papier-mâché by local artist Wistin Camilleri in 1922, about a decade after the erection of the parish. This was not the first statue of the Sacred Heart; another one procured from the Fabrica di Statue Religiose Francesco Rosa of Rome had reached the island in 1907 and used for the procession until it was decided that it had to be replaced.

Artist Wistin Camilleri, who created the statue.

When Wistin Camilleri came to create the statue, he modelled it on his brother George. George died while trying to handle a stone which formed part of the furniture in the old windmill that still stands in Għajn Qatet Street, behind St Francis conventual church in Victoria. Camilleri modelled the statue on his deceased brother in order to immortalise him. He considered the statue as his masterpiece.

When the Camilleri family moved from Żejtun to Gozo, they lived in the windmill on Għajn Qatet. For a long time, their nickname was ‘Tal-Mitħna’ (‘of the windmill’) until the family began to spread around. Today, Wistin’s children are simply referred to as ‘Ta’ Wistinu’. In local history, Wistin is sometimes called Agostino; this happened because at a particular point in time, Wistin began to sign his name in Italian fashion.

A draft of the titular painting by Giuseppe Calí.

In June 1993, Bishop Nicholas J. Cauchi put a crown of gold on the head of the figure of Christ in the Sacred Heart titular painting by Giuseppe Calí at Fontana parish church.

The statue of the Sacred Heart in Fontana instils devotion in those who look at it. Christ is presented as a grown-up man with a long beard and curly hair, characteristic of Jewish youth at the time of Jesus and of Hasidic Jews even today. Wistin was a church-goer and certainly had more than basic knowledge of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian tradition.

An old photo of the titular statue being taken out of the church during a procession. Photo: Fr John Mejlak

The titular statue the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

As was the case with various other titular statues, the statue of Wistin Camilleri has experienced various alternations. The globe on which the statue stands – and which symbolises the world – was reduced to the point of having only its upper part left so that a plinth could be made for the statue. The statue was gilded in 1985 by Horace Farrugia and restored by Michael Camilleri Cauchi, son of Wistin, between 2021 and 2022.

As the Fontana parish community commemorates the centenary year of its devotional titular statue of the Sacred Heart, the community also celebrates the 30th anniversary of the crowning of the titular altarpiece. It was in June 1993 that Bishop Nicholas Cauchi put a crown of gold on the head of the figure of Christ in the painting by Giuseppe Calì; for the occasion, the Vatican sent Cardinal Francis Arinze to preside.

Last year, the present parish priest, Canon Simon M. Cachia, announced the centenary celebrations by presenting the community with the logo that was designed for the occasion. So 2023 will remain a special year in the history of the Fontana parish church, a year that will remind the Fontanin of two historical events that form part of the history of their native parish.