Be the first to comment!Feast of Saint Ursula – Patron Saint of Gozo celebrated today
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Today, the Feast of Saint Ursula – the Patron Saint of Gozo – is being celebrated at the Gozo Cathedral with a Pontifical Mass led by Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma.
In connection with the links that existed in the old days with the Patron Saint of Gozo – Saint Ursola, the Gozo Regional Council said that it continued to strengthen this link with the presence of the flags of each locality inside the Cathedral.
The symbolic ceremony of the giving of oil by the President of the Gozo Region Dr Samuel Azzopardi to the Bishop of Gozo also took place, so that according to ancient tradition, the lamp of the Sant Ursola Chapel is kept lit throughout the whole year.
Music takes prominence in the festivities of Gozo’s patron saint, a day that was once also a Public Holiday.
The Aurora International 3-day Folk Festival has been taking place in the Cathedral Square , and finishes at midday.
The reliquary bust was restored by Heritage Malta in 2014 on the initiative of the Ministry for Gozo.
The Saint who, according to tradition, was a princess-missionary from Britannia, was martyred by the Huns near Cologne, Germany. She was declared patron saint of Gozo on the 6th of October 1620.
The bust of Saint Ursula was acquired by Eugenio-Romirez Maldonado, a knight of Malta from the langue of Léon and Castille, from his home city of Salamanca, Spain. When appointed Governor of Gozo on the 1st of September 1610, he brought the statue and relic with him to Gozo.
He would display the image on the feast day, the 21st of October, at his residence adjacent to the Matrice of Gozo. When recalled to Valletta in August 1613, he took the relic with him back to Malta.
However the Università or Regional Government and the people of Gozo begged Eugenio-Romirez Maldonado to return the statue to the island. He acceded to their wishes the following year and donated the bust to the Matrice, the present Cathedral of Gozo.
Gozitans started to pray for the intervention of Saint Ursula in cases of widespread deadly diseases, earthquakes and drought.
Photos: Gozo Regional Council
