Fr Geoffrey G. Attard writes:
I must have met Mgr Coronato Grima for the first time on one of his frequent visits to Gozo from Gibraltar when he served as a priest for about 35 years. He used to come over to his native island to visit his elderly mother, his brothers and his sisters.
Although on holiday, he would be available for confessions for long hours and say Mass at St George’s, his native parish in Victoria. He came across as a dedicated priest, always impeccably dressed, with his dog collar and cufflinks, and always ready to listen. Each and every time he visited, he would pass on to me copies of holy pictures of saints or other Christian iconography.
His family’s house in Charity Street, just a few steps away from St George’s Basilica, was always open to one and all. The sitting room and adjoining corridors were full of statues of various saints that he must have brought over from Gibraltar. He had a special devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Joseph and also for St George, the patron saint of his native parish.
A statue of a particular saint could always be seen behind one of the windows of his house in Victoria, intended to attract the devotion of passers-by. An alto-rilievo of the Immaculate Conception dominated his sitting room.
He was ordained to the priesthood by the late St Pope Paul VI in St Peter’s Square on June 29, 1975. Three months after his ordination, he was sent to Gibraltar to help the clergy there, for what was believed at the time would be a period of one year; he stayed there for the greatest part of his life.
He worked in various parishes, mainly St Joseph’s where he served as parish priest. He was eventually appointed chancellor of the diocese. Hundreds of people in the colony will remember him as a zealous priest always ready to address the needs of his parishioners and full of love and dedication to one and all.
After a lifetime in Gibraltar, Mgr Grima came back to Gozo in 2010. However, he did not enjoy his retirement due to his weak health. Over the last 10 years, Dun Koronat – as he was dearly referred to – lost a brother-in-law, two sisters and his brother, Mgr George Grima, as he continued to bear with love and patience the cross that the Lord Jesus trusted him with.
In his illness, he was looked after by his brothers and sisters but especially by his aunt Mary who lives just across from his home.
Mgr Coronato Grima died at the Gozo General Hospital on July 22.
Bishop Carmel Zammit of Gibralar had only words of praise for him; he was one of his fellow companions working in Gibraltar with him before being ordained bishop of what is considered to be by many the smallest diocese in the Catholic world.
Dear Fr Coronato, you will be sadly missed. May God grant you eternal rest.