Throughout the centuries, Gozitans turned to three particular saints – St Gregory, St George and St Ursula – during difficult moments. At this point in time, the Church is urging devotion and prayer to these saints due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These statues have been taken out of their niches for veneration and prayers in churches in Victoria and Kerċem.
The people of Kerċem, whose patron is St Gregory, have placed the statue on the presbytery seeking his help against the pandemic.
When Gregory was elected pope on September 3, 590, a terrible plague raged through Rome and its environs. It had even claimed the life of his predecessor, Pope Pelagius II.
Pope Gregory led a massive procession around Rome, inviting everyone to pray to God.
Legend has it the procession was led by an ancient image of the Virgin Mary, reportedly cleansing the air of the disease. As the procession reached the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian, he witnessed a sight that brought peace to his soul.
Pope Gregory saw an angel of the Lord standing atop the castle of Crescentius, wiping a bloody sword and sheathing it.
He understood that the end of the plague was near, as, indeed, happened. Thereafter, the castle was called the Castle of the Holy Angel, Castel Sant’Angelo.
As of 1592, on March 12 of each year, members of confraternities, and most of the population of Gozo walked in a votive procession from the Matrice (the Cathedral), to a chapel dedicated to St Gregory at Għar Gerduf, on the outskirts of Rabat, later Victoria.
On the way, it passed through the cemetery in an area known as Fuq it-Tomba (now Don Bosco Oratory) where prayers were said.
Afternoon Mass
This cemetery might have originated as a result of the many casualties of the ‘Black Death’, thought to be the bubonic plague, which killed a large number of people in Europe in the mid-14th century.
The procession must have begun in thanksgiving to St Gregory for his intercession against plagues and natural catastrophes.
The firing of petards from the citadel at 4am was a signal to Gozitans that the procession was going to be held on the day.
Kerċem parish church is open daily between 8 and 9am and 5 to 7pm. At 4pm parish priest Brian Mejlak celebrates Mass in private.
The Mass is broadcast live on Radju Sokkors 95.1 FM and on www.facebook.com/Parrocca-Madonna-tas-Sokkors u San-Girgor-il-Kbir-1573850 169609581/.
Much the same can be said for the image of St Ursula which is found in the Gozo Cathedral.
The saint’s bust has been placed on the main altar. It has been in Gozo since 1614 and is associated with various disturbances when Gozitans prayed during earthquakes, epidemics and during periods of drought.
The titular statue of St George venerated at St George’s basilica in Victoria was taken out of its niche after the first coronavirus cases were recorded in Malta.
In fact, the church was built in 1678 as thanksgiving to St George after the extinction of the plague that had hit Malta three years earlier. The liturgical feast of St George was celebrated on April 23.
There were various instances when the statue of St George was brought out of its niche in times of epidemics and lack of rain and it was also carried during penitential pilgrimages.