Fontana parish will celebrate the feast of St Andrew, on Sunday.
Days of triduum will start tomorrow. Mgr Edward Zammit will celebrate High Mass on Sunday, at 3.45pm, followed by the procession with the relic and statue of St Andrew, accompanied by Santa Margerita Band of Sannat.
Prayers for peace between Russia and Ukraine will be said. The festivities will be concluded with another High Mass on Wednesday, November 30, the liturgical feast of St Andrew.
Andrew was St Peter’s brother... they were fishermen. Fontana parishioners have great devotion to St Andrew, since the inhabitants of the village were mostly fishermen.
Legend has it that Andrew preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras on an X-shaped cross.
St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Barbados, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Cyprus and Romania, among others.
A fishermen’s monument was inaugurated on December 1, 1998, by Fontana local council on the church parvis. It features a list of fishermen who, under the leadership of Fr Ġużepp Grima and Grezzja Grima, helped in the building of the parish church.
Day of the Poor
The Gozitan village also celebrated the International World Day of the Poor recently.
Parishioners collected money, preserved food and personal hygiene products for Caritas in Gozo. Holy pictures of St Martin of Tours and St Elisabeth of Hungary were distributed to the faithful. Both saints are widely known for their love to the poor.
Fontana parish also distributed blessed bread in memory of the miracle which is said to have occurred during St Elisabeth’s life. According to tradition when she was asked to open her cloak, red roses, symbolising the Blood of Christ, fell, instead of the bread she was carrying for the poor.
Elizabeth was married at the age of 14 and widowed at 20.
After her husband’s death, she regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick.
She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death at the age of 24 and was canonised on May 25, 1235. She was an early member of the Third Order of St Francis, and is today honoured as its patroness.
Meanwhile, legend holds that while Martin of Tours was still in the military and a catechumen of the faith, he cut his cloak in half to share it with a beggar.
That night, Martin dreamed that Jesus himself was clothed with the torn cloak. When he awoke, the garment was restored. Moved by this vision and apparent miracle, Martin was baptised at age 18.