Fr Cajetan Mifsud was assistant to the Servant of God Joseph De Piro when the latter was secretary to archbishop Mauro Caruana between 1915 and 1918. Mifsud deeply respected De Piro and they were very good friends.

When Mifsud was appointed parish priest of St Cajetan parish, Ħamrun he desired to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows at his parish. Initially, archbishop Caruana did not grant this permission, so Mifsud asked De Piro whether he would approach the archbishop on his behalf. Eventually, the archbishop granted Mifsud’s request.

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows was due to be celebrated for the first time at St Cajetan’s parish on September 17, 1933 and, due to his involvement in getting the required permission for this celebration, Mifsud desired De Piro to be the first one to lead this procession. But Mifsud did not participate in this procession; he died unexpectedly during the last week of August 1933.

It was agreed that the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows should go ahead as planned. On the morning of Sunday, September 17, De Piro celebrated solemn high Mass at St Cajetan’s parish church. After Mass, he went over to Fra Diegu girls’ orphanage, a short, five-minute walk away.

After a quick cup of coffee, De Piro practised singing the responses to the psalms, which were going to be used at the Vespers of the next day; he wanted to be sure the girls participated and responded. De Piro sang the first part of the response and the girls continued.

The following day, on Monday, the Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus at the orphanage were going to celebrate the feast of the Stigmata of St Francis. This feast should have been celebrated on the Sunday but had to be postponed because of the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

After the singing practice, De Piro had lunch with the sisters. They all sat around him and listened to him attentively as he spoke about the End Times. After lunch, he went to his room and locked the door behind him.

Later in the afternoon, when the church bells started ringing to announce the procession, the sisters started to get concerned because De Piro had still not come out of his room. Two sisters approached his room quietly to see if they could hear any noises coming from inside.

When the procession had almost reached the church, De Piro turned around and, facing the statue, pressed the reliquary he was holding against his chest, then he carried on with the procession

One of the sisters expressed her concern: “I hope the director is not dead!”

Finally, at about 4.30pm, De Piro left his room. As he was going downstairs, he met two sisters who asked him for a blessing and then walked to the parish church for the procession.

During the procession, De Piro seemed very happy. He told the priest accompanying him: “Look, there are many people following the statue, praying the rosary.”

When the procession had almost reached the church, De Piro turned around and, facing the statue, pressed the reliquary he was holding against his chest, then he carried on with the procession. Those who had noticed De Piro do this later wondered whether he had been in pain and whether he had prayed to Our Lady to give him the strength at least to reach the church.

After the procession, the people gathered inside the church for the concluding Eucharistic blessing. De Piro delivered a short sermon during which he spoke about his dear friend, parish priest Mifsud. He was very emotional. After the sermon he knelt in front of the altar while the choir sang the hymn Tantum Ergo.

At this point, he told one of the priests kneeling next to him that he was not feeling well. This priest asked him whether he would like him to help him to the choir stalls, behind the altar. De Piro chose to remain kneeling in front of the altar, so as not to create a commotion among the congregation. Consequently, he did not impart the Eucharistic blessing, as was customary; one of the assistant priests did so instead.

De Piro fainted during the blessing and the deacon kneeling next to him held him up. After the blessing, some people gently carried De Piro into the choir stalls and sat him down. An ambulance was called for and it arrived a short while later.

De Piro was taken to the Central Hospital, Floriana, and was laid down on a bed in the children’s ward, the one closest to the main entrance. The doctors tried their best to assist him, but he was already dead.