The liturgical feast of St Ursula, patron saint of Gozo since 1620 and co-titular of the Victoria cathedral since 1716, is being celebrated on Sunday.

The triduum started yesterday with Mass and sermon on the saint by Deacon Matthew Bajada. On Saturday, sung vespers will be said at 6pm, followed by Mass by Mgr Joseph Sultana, archpriest of the cathedral.

On Sunday, the cathedral chapter will sing morning prayers at 9am, followed by a short procession with the bust-relic of St Ursula at the Cittadella at 9.45am, followed by Pontifical Mass by Bishop Anton Teuma with the participation of the cathedral chapter.

In the evening, sung vespers will be said at 5.15pm, followed by Eucharistic Benediction.

Folkloristic shows by the Aurora folk group will be staged at the Cittadella at different times on Saturday and Sunday.  In Gozo, devotion to St Ursula began in 1614, when Eugenio-Romirez Maldonado, a knight from Salamanca and governor of Gozo, donated a bust of the saint with her arm-bone to the cathedral at the end of his term of office.

Six years later, a diocesan synod, presided over by Bishop Baldassare Cagliares at the Mdina cathedral, declared St Ursula patron saint of Gozo.

St Ursula’s intercession against natural catastrophes was always on the minds of Gozitans.

In the past, three votive processions, in which the civil authorities also took part, were held throughout the year in thanksgiving for deliverance from various calamities.

It is recorded that in July 1693, Malta and Gozo were invaded by tens of thousands of locusts that devastated their fields.

The local government paid people ‘auxiliary’ money in an effort to get rid of the locusts, but it was all in vain. At the end of July, a penitential procession with the relic of St Ursula was held from the cathedral to the main square in Rabat where prayers were said. Then, the cathedral archpriest blessed the island with the relic of St Ursula.

It is said that the locusts immediately headed to the sea.