Gozo Day is being commemorated today. It was on this day in 1798, that Saverio Cassar, archpriest of the Matrice, the present cathedral, emerged victorious with the people of Gozo on the far superior French battalion.

The following morning, as attested in a letter that Alexander John Ball, the British captain responsible for the blockade, despatched to Lord Nelson, “the place was delivered up in form to the Deputies of the island”.

During the French occupation, Archpriest Cassar had taken upon himself the spiritual, administrative, and political governance of Gozo. It was for this reason that the British passed on the island of Gozo into his hands.

On October 29, 1798, Gozo together with Comino became an autonomous region. The emergency government had taken upon itself the strenuous task to provide wages to the local troops, to import food from Sicily, and to organise the various sectors of administration.

No wonder that the place was “delivered up in form” to Cassar and his deputies.

Gozitan historian Joseph Bezzina says that, for the first time in recent history, the Gozitans had become their own masters. Archpriest Cassar became Governor-General and governing head for the King of Naples. He soon appointed lawyer Francesco Pace as a resident ambassador in the Sicilian court.

Through the upheavals caused by the French Revolution, an enlightened era dawned for the archipelago and for 22 months there also existed what is referred to in official documents as La Nazione Gozitana (the Nation of Gozo).

In 2005, a committee set up under the auspices of the Gozo Ministry started preparations for an overdue commemoration of Cassar on the 200th anniversary of his death (December 16, 1805).

This committee succeeded to erect a monument in his honour in Independence Square. It was within this committee, led by the late George Vella, that the idea of Gozo Day was conceived. It was commemorated for the first time on October 28, 2005.

Today, Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral at 6pm. Mass will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the foot of Cassar’s monument.

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