Thousands of Roman Catholics flocked to Valletta last night to witness the historic moment when Floriana's statue of St Publius entered the capital city for the first time.
The majestic statue was carried into City Gate and through Republic Street to loud applause and enthusiasm, while Valletta's equally majestic statue of St Paul was carried on a tour of the city.
The two then 'met' outside St John's Co-Cathedral, as young and old gathered in droves to witness the event, organised to mark the end of the Pauline Year.
Supporters of each saint filled the streets and sang their individual anthems while passionately praising their own saint as "the greatest". The coming together of the two statues was symbolic of the arrival of St Paul who was welcomed to Malta by St Publius after his shipwreck in 60 AD.
As the story goes, St Publius was then converted and became the first archbishop of the island as the two saints converted the rest of the island to Christianity.
The unifying activity between the two rival towns was organised by the Archbishop's Curia. A similar event has only happened once before, in 1960, when the two statues were brought together at the Floriana Granaries.
An open-air Pontifical Mass was said by the Pope's special envoy, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, in the presence of the country's highest authorities, to mark the end of the Pauline Year that celebrated the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of St Paul.
Similar celebrations have been held in the seven countries St Paul visited during his lifetime.
Archbishop Paul Cremona said the Maltese would celebrate the 1950th anniversary of St Paul's arrival next year and would do so with the same enthusiasm as they did the Pauline Year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment