The 450th anniversary of the death of Pope St Pius V is being commemorated with solemn pontifical Mass presided by Archbishop Charles Scicluna at St John’s Co-Cathedral on Sunday, at 9.30am, and a solemn Mass by the Dominican community, also at St John’s, on Sunday, November 6, at 5.45pm.
Pope Pius V, a Dominican friar elected to the papacy in 1566, was a major benefactor for the building of Valletta and a promoter of the devotion towards Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.
The Dominican parish in Valletta was established by a decree (ex debito pastoralis) given by Pope Pius V on July 2, 1571.
To commemorate this event, the pontifical liturgical vestments of Pope St Pius V have been brought to Malta and are being exhibited at St John’s Co-Cathedral until November 14.
The vestments were brought over on the initiative of Malta’s ambassador to Rome, Frank Zammit, and the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation.