The date of October 27, 1979, remains engraved in letters of gold in the memory of Marsa’s residents, or those like me hailing from the town’s descendants.
On that day we saw for the first time the carved wooden titular statue which replaced a provisional one that was used in the first two Holy Trinity feast processions in 1978 and 1979.
It all started during the feast celebrated on Trinity Sunday, June 5, 1977. It had long been the dream of the people of Marsa that the titular feast would be celebrated like other parishes with a titular statue. This was in no way a sign of disrespect towards the Blessed Sacrament, but the procession with the latter requires more dignity and devotion. It was high time to hold it on a more appropriate day rather than on the proper feast day held each year on the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
As was the custom, a fireworks display was let off from December 13th Street at the end of the band march, and that meant the end of that year’s feast. The parish church was also still open for the worship of the faithful.
But the people’s enthusiasm had reached a climax. A group of festa enthusiasts were convinced it was time to ask the ecclesiastical authorities for permission to make a processional statue.
After the usual procession with the Blessed Sacrament, the group decided to place the statue of the Holy Trinity – a 1952 work of Domenic Azzopardi – on an open truck and hold a spontaneous procession with it. To this day this statue is placed on a high column in Marsa Road during the external festivities in honour of the Most Holy Trinity.
Parish priest Fr Diego Theuma was astounded and worried when the men told him they wanted to carry this statue inside the church
People like me who are of a certain age can remember witnessing the enthusiasm and joy on that day. These enthusiastic men, from the Għaqda Festi Esterni Ssma Trinità, Marsa, the group responsible for the outdoor festivities in honour of the feast of the Most Holy Trinity in Marsa, that day took the statue down from the truck and lifted it shoulder high in front of the parish church.
The parish priest of that time, Fr Diego Theuma, OFM Cap, was astounded and worried when the men told him they wanted to carry this statue inside the church at the end of this historic procession. But that was what indeed happened. Everything had worked to a tee and the spontaneous procession was held with great prudence.
The parish priest immediately understood that it was high time for him to request, on behalf of the people of the Marsa parish, for a proper permit to hold the procession on Holy Trinity Sunday with a statue of the Holy Trinity instead of the usual procession with the Blessed Sacrament.
November 19, 1977, was a day of great joy and enthusiasm for Marsa’s parishioners. That day, Fr Theuma read out the announcement of the decree of the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation pro Sacramentis Divina et Cultus, issued in response to Archbishop Joseph Mercieca’s formal request, officially giving permission for the parish to hold the Holy Trinity procession with a statue depicting the Most Holy Trinity.
Preparations for the people of Marsa to have an appropriate artistic processional statue began in full swing. Fr Theuma asked artist Joseph Galea from Mdina-Rabat to design the statue. The sacred art firm Ferdinando Stuflesser of Ortisei, Bolzano, Italy, sculpted it in wood on Galea’s design. The statue, with its graceful pedestal, was completed in September 1979 and cost Lm6,121.21c, equivalent to €14,258.85. This money was collected in a relatively short period of time from the people of Marsa.
News that the statue was ready filled the hearts of the people of Marsa with great joy, but they had to wait until October 27 to see the artistic image for the first time. On October 23 the statue, carefully packed in boxes, reached shore at Marsa, and I was one of the lucky few who saw the boxes being opened with great care and attention in a warehouse there.
On October 27, the much longed-for day finally arrived. The enthusiasm and joy of the large crowds that gathered from Marsa Wharf all the way through the main streets of the Holy Trinity parish was undescribable. There were tears of joy and long applauses all along the way until the statue entered the church for the first time. On Sunday, November 3, the then Archbishop Michael Gonzi blessed the statue in Church Square.
In 1981, the four angels that decorate the base of the statue, also designed by Galea, were added. Over time the original cross was changed, and a new sceptre held in the Holy Father’s hand, designed by Francis Treeby, replaced the original one. The wooden rays, gilded in gold, and holding the symbol of the Holy Spirit, was replaced by a bigger one in 1988. This work was completed by Marcellino Grech from Marsa, on the design of Salvu Bugeja, and gilded by Horace Farrugia. Artist Michael Camilleri Cauchi painted the statue again that same year. Josette Vella performed the works on the ganutell wreath surrounding the statue’s base.
Mario Spiteri is PRO of the Għaqda Festi Esterni Ssma Trinita, Marsa.
To celebrate the titular statue’s 40th anniversary, a solemn Mass will be held at the Holy Trinity parish church, Marsa, on Sunday, October 27 at 9am. The following Sunday, November 3, the parish will also celebrate the start of the tenure of Fr Domenic Mangani, OFM Cap, as its new parish priest. Ad multos annos!