Il-Hagar | Heart of Gozo Museum has received a donation of a Roman icon inspired by the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis.

Museum curator Mgr Dr Joseph Farrugia, was presented with the icon by Franco Bedini, member of the Schola Polifonica Romana which performed the penultimate concert of the Victoria International Arts Festival.

The initiative came from Roberto Colavalle, the Schola’s musical director and a longtime friend of St George’s basilica.

The icon bears the Christ Pantocrator, that is, Christ as ruler of the world. Written in egg tempera and pure gold, the icon features the misericordiae vultus, the merciful face of God revealed in Jesus who appears with his right hand in Trinitarian blessing and the left holding the Latin script: “Non veni vocare iustos sed peccatores in paenitentiam” – “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5,32).

As he received it on behalf of Il-Hagar Museum, Mgr Farrugia made the suggestion that the Museum Foundation should eventually donate the Vultus Misericordiae icon to St George’s basilica, to find its place alongside the icon of the Great Jubilee of the year 2000.

Pope Francis will formally open the Holy Year of Mercy on the 8th of December 2015 and it will run until November 2016.

The icon is on view at Il-Hagar Museum, St George’s Square, Victoria, Gozo.

Photograph: Joe Borg

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