The holy relic of the arm of St George, venerated at the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore on the homonymous island in Venice since 1296, will be brought to Gozo for the special festivities which will mark the 175th anniversary at St George’s Basilica, Victoria, of the titular statue of St George in July 2014.

The announcement was made by H.L. Mgr Mario Grech, Bishop of Gozo and Dean of the Collegiate Chapter, at the end of the Pontifical High Mass on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

The Bishop read the official letter he received on December the 23rd from Dom Norberto Villa osb, Abbot of Praglia and San Giorgio Maggiore, confirming the Abbot’s concent, as well as that of his religious community, which was previously given by word of mouth to Archpriest Mgr Pawlu Cardona during a short visit to Venice last November.

St George’s Parish said that “Venice’s renowned Arm of St George is considered to be one of the authentic relics of the saint. In 1978 an anthropological and anatomical study was carried out on the said relic, as well as on the cranium of the saint kept in Rome’s San Giorgio al Velabro, on the relic of Ferrara and on other remains venerated at St George’s Basilica in Como.

“The study confirmed that all these relics must have belonged to the same male subject, aged in his twenties that lived around the beginning of the fourth century.”

The Velabro relic was brought twice to Gozo, first in 1984 and then in 2003, when on both occasions St George’s Basilica celebrated centenaries related to the Patron Saint’s life.

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