As announced earlier, the opening ceremony of the Pauline Year will be taking place tonight in Mdina starting at 7:30pm with moments of prayers adapted from St. George Preca’s writings mainly the special programme entitled Sanctus Paulus Magister. The Cathedral Chapter and the clergy will then accompany the Archbishop while holding the relics of Sts. Peter and Paul from the Benedictine Monastery to the Metropolitan Cathedral. Upon his arrival on the parvis and coming to the altar, there will be the Solemn Proclamation of the Pauline Year which was written by local liturgists. A large massive silver icon which was originally part of the High Altar Pala of St. Paul Enthroned will be unveiled.
Following the liturgical celebrations at the Cathedral, all the participants are invited to roam around the old historical streets of Rabat and Mdina which will be holding a variety of interesting exhibitions and unique public display of art, sculpture and music related to the saint, some of which will be going on simultaneously. The cloistered nuns at St. Peter’s Monastery will share with the visitors their spiritual treasures. There will be perpetual adoration up to 11pm. On the right hand side, one may also venerate the relics of Blessed Adeodata Pisani, another spiritual treasure.
A series of events are programmed among which one can find a guided tour of the Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and part of the adjacent convent. The Carmelite Church is one of the finest baroque churches in Malta. There one can admire among other treasures the mastery of Stefano Erardi and Giuseppe Calì. The cloister and the refectory with its richly decorative motifs are worth visiting. At 10 pm, the Carmelite community leads the congregation in a prayer vigil. The Office of Readings of the solemnity will be prayed. The Very Reverend Provincial Alexander Vella o.carm., a biblical scholar, will provide a commentary about the Psalms.
The Cathedral doors will remain open to the public until 11pm. At 9:45 pm, those present will focus their attention on the titular altar piece painted by Mattia Preti in the late 17th century. Music and light will enhance a fifteen-minute artistic and spiritual reflection written by another biblical scholar, Fr. Paul Sciberras.
Walking straight outside Mdina main door, one finds the Church of St. Mark and the Augustinian Priory. At 10pm, there will also be a 40-minute soireè about St. Paul and St. Augustine. Worth seeing on this occasion is a Sicilian school fifteenth-century triptych which adorns the sacristy. It represents the Virgin Mother sitting on a gothic throne and nursing baby Jesus and on the sides there are St. Paul and St. Augustine. The present priory, built in 1740 is a fine example of architecture. For this occasion, it accommodates a collective art exhibition entitled Sapientiae Pulchritudo (meaning Art and Spirituality) by renowned Maltese contemporary artists like Fabio Borg, Anton Agius, Jessica Debattista, Anthony Spagnol, Lino Borg, John Martin Borg, George Fenech, Noel Attard, Gilbert Fenech, Pierre Bugeja, Mark Sagona and Patrick Dalli. The cloister will be open till midnight.
Tucked away from the rather busy St. Augustine Street one finds the small chapel of St. Bartholomew. Nowadays, this church serves as a chapel for perpetual adoration. There one can spend some time in adoration. Note worthy is the fact that in this chapel the Maltese organised the uprising against the French in 1798.
At ta’ Ġieżu church, the Franciscan Minors are setting a remarkable exhibition entitled “San Pawl għand il-Franġiskani”. It consists of a collection of paintings depicting the saint which are found in their churches and convents in Malta. Besides, there will also be the presentation of the newly translated book called “San Pawl, il-Ħajja, il-Ħidma u l-Messaġġ Tiegħu” originally written by Fr. Alfio Marcello Buscemi ofm and currently published by the Commissariat for the Holy Land. An astounding concert of Sacred Music will also be performing to the general public.
A stone’s throw away, in Palazzo Xara, the seat of the L’Isle Adam Musical Society, the members are holding an exhibition of statues and paintings of St. Paul. These form part of their private collections. The other Rabat philharmonic society, the Count Roger Band Club, is exhibiting a number of engravings, dating back from the seventeenth century, depicting St. Paul’s shipwreck.
An organ recital at St. Paul Parish Church in Rabat is also scheduled at 9:30pm. A location to be visited by every Maltese Christian is St. Paul’s Grotto. According to tradition, it is the place where the saint dwelt during his three months stay and from where he conducted his pastoral work. The parish church, decorated for the village festa, has in its possession numerous Pauline artefacts: Stefano Erardi’s titular painting of the Shipwreck of St. Paul and the reliquary containing the arm of the Saint. There will also be the opening of the Wignacourt Museum where three exhibitions will be displayed featuring artists from Rabat, iconography about the shipwreck and the reliquary of the apostle.
The visitors will also benefit from another event that of the opening of the Missionary Society of St. Paul Motherhouse and St. Agatha Catacombs. Meanwhile, on the latter church parvis, a slide feature will be showing the link between the society and the founder, Mgr. Giuseppe Depiro, with apostle Paul.
The Franciscan Conventuals are also opening their church on this Pauline festivity. The present building was designed by Lorenzo Gafà, who at the same period was completing his masterpiece, the Mdina Cathedral. Fr. Ugolin Xerri, the guardian of convent will conduct a guided tour at 10:30pm.
Following the liturgical celebrations at the Cathedral, all the participants are invited to roam around the old historical streets of Rabat and Mdina which will be holding a variety of interesting exhibitions and unique public display of art, sculpture and music related to the saint, some of which will be going on simultaneously. The cloistered nuns at St. Peter’s Monastery will share with the visitors their spiritual treasures. There will be perpetual adoration up to 11pm. On the right hand side, one may also venerate the relics of Blessed Adeodata Pisani, another spiritual treasure.
A series of events are programmed among which one can find a guided tour of the Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and part of the adjacent convent. The Carmelite Church is one of the finest baroque churches in Malta. There one can admire among other treasures the mastery of Stefano Erardi and Giuseppe Calì. The cloister and the refectory with its richly decorative motifs are worth visiting. At 10 pm, the Carmelite community leads the congregation in a prayer vigil. The Office of Readings of the solemnity will be prayed. The Very Reverend Provincial Alexander Vella o.carm., a biblical scholar, will provide a commentary about the Psalms.
The Cathedral doors will remain open to the public until 11pm. At 9:45 pm, those present will focus their attention on the titular altar piece painted by Mattia Preti in the late 17th century. Music and light will enhance a fifteen-minute artistic and spiritual reflection written by another biblical scholar, Fr. Paul Sciberras.
Walking straight outside Mdina main door, one finds the Church of St. Mark and the Augustinian Priory. At 10pm, there will also be a 40-minute soireè about St. Paul and St. Augustine. Worth seeing on this occasion is a Sicilian school fifteenth-century triptych which adorns the sacristy. It represents the Virgin Mother sitting on a gothic throne and nursing baby Jesus and on the sides there are St. Paul and St. Augustine. The present priory, built in 1740 is a fine example of architecture. For this occasion, it accommodates a collective art exhibition entitled Sapientiae Pulchritudo (meaning Art and Spirituality) by renowned Maltese contemporary artists like Fabio Borg, Anton Agius, Jessica Debattista, Anthony Spagnol, Lino Borg, John Martin Borg, George Fenech, Noel Attard, Gilbert Fenech, Pierre Bugeja, Mark Sagona and Patrick Dalli. The cloister will be open till midnight.
Tucked away from the rather busy St. Augustine Street one finds the small chapel of St. Bartholomew. Nowadays, this church serves as a chapel for perpetual adoration. There one can spend some time in adoration. Note worthy is the fact that in this chapel the Maltese organised the uprising against the French in 1798.
At ta’ Ġieżu church, the Franciscan Minors are setting a remarkable exhibition entitled “San Pawl għand il-Franġiskani”. It consists of a collection of paintings depicting the saint which are found in their churches and convents in Malta. Besides, there will also be the presentation of the newly translated book called “San Pawl, il-Ħajja, il-Ħidma u l-Messaġġ Tiegħu” originally written by Fr. Alfio Marcello Buscemi ofm and currently published by the Commissariat for the Holy Land. An astounding concert of Sacred Music will also be performing to the general public.
A stone’s throw away, in Palazzo Xara, the seat of the L’Isle Adam Musical Society, the members are holding an exhibition of statues and paintings of St. Paul. These form part of their private collections. The other Rabat philharmonic society, the Count Roger Band Club, is exhibiting a number of engravings, dating back from the seventeenth century, depicting St. Paul’s shipwreck.
An organ recital at St. Paul Parish Church in Rabat is also scheduled at 9:30pm. A location to be visited by every Maltese Christian is St. Paul’s Grotto. According to tradition, it is the place where the saint dwelt during his three months stay and from where he conducted his pastoral work. The parish church, decorated for the village festa, has in its possession numerous Pauline artefacts: Stefano Erardi’s titular painting of the Shipwreck of St. Paul and the reliquary containing the arm of the Saint. There will also be the opening of the Wignacourt Museum where three exhibitions will be displayed featuring artists from Rabat, iconography about the shipwreck and the reliquary of the apostle.
The visitors will also benefit from another event that of the opening of the Missionary Society of St. Paul Motherhouse and St. Agatha Catacombs. Meanwhile, on the latter church parvis, a slide feature will be showing the link between the society and the founder, Mgr. Giuseppe Depiro, with apostle Paul.
The Franciscan Conventuals are also opening their church on this Pauline festivity. The present building was designed by Lorenzo Gafà, who at the same period was completing his masterpiece, the Mdina Cathedral. Fr. Ugolin Xerri, the guardian of convent will conduct a guided tour at 10:30pm.
Posts
Post a Comment