The Ghajnsielem Parish has announced that on the 12th January 2011 Monsignor Joseph Zerafa, Archpriest Emeritus of the parish of Ghajnsielem, passed away at the age of 72 at the Gozo General Hospital comforted by the rights of the Holy Church.

Monsignor Joseph (Guzeppi) Zerafa was the second Archpriest and tenth parish-priest of the Ghajnsielem Parish. He was born on the 20th of February 1938, and was ordained priest by the Gozo Bishop Mons. Joseph Pace on the 25th of April 1965. He was vice-vicar for the Ghajnsielem Parish until 1981, when he was then appointed as the second Archpriest of the Ghajnsielem Parish and tenth parish-priest on the 11th of March 1981 by Gozo Bishop Mons. Nikol Cauchi. The possession ceremony took place on the 5th of April of the same year.

During his pastoral tenure, he furnished the interior of the new parish church, including the marble pavement, the twelve marble crosses on the pilasters, the Via Sagra, the ambone, the four confessionals, and the niche hosting the Titular Statue of Our Lady of Loreto. He was responsible for the extension of the Ghajnsielem Cemetery, the building of the new Lauretana Parish Centre and the building of two warehouses for the storage of feast decorations. Acting and recital were close to his heart, and he was fully supportive of the Easter pageants and, later, Betlehem f’Ghajnsielem.

Mgr Giuseppi Zerafa was awarded the ‘Gieh Ghajnsielem’ in 2001. He stepped down as pastoral leader of the Ghajnsielem Parish on the 10th on December 2006 after 25 years of service to his native village, and appointed Canon and given the title of Monsignor of the Cathedral Chapter by Gozo Bishop Mgr Mario Grech. Mgr Zerafa passed the last years of his life building wooden replicas of Ghajnsielem’s churches and the historic Ghajn tal-Hasselin.

The funeral will be held on Tuesday 18th January 2011. His body will leave Gozo General Hospital at 9am to his family’s residence where he will be laid out. At noon his body will be laid at the Old Parish Church, and at 2.30pm prayers will be said for his soul. The cortege will leave the Old Parish Church at 3.00pm accompanied by the St. Joseph Band of Ghajnsielem towards the Ghajnsielem Parish Church where Mass praesente cadavere will be celebrated at 3.30pm. Burial will follow at Ghajnsielem Parish Cemetery.

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