An artistic two metre statue of Christ the King which had stirred a hot controversy between the Church authorities and the youth section of the Socjeta Filarmonika de Paule - Banda Kristu Re of Paola has been revamped to give it a fine and rich finish.
The statue had been commissioned by the youth section of the Paola band club with the intention of presenting it to the parish church to serve as the locality's titular statue. The initiative was meant to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the de Paule band club in 1998.
However, the offer was turned down by the parish church primarily because it had already ordered one.
Moreover, the Archbishop's curia has a commission to check the designs of sacred artworks to be displayed in churches before they are approved.
The Commission on Sacred Art is composed of five members including a historian, an artist and clergymen highly conversant in artistic matters.
The Gozo curia has seven members.
The statue of Christ the King that is now the titular state at the Paola parish church was designed by sculptor Ganni Bonnici and a copy of the original was made by an artist in Italy.
The statue commissioned by the band's youth section was sculpted by Alfred Camilleri Cauchi from a solid tree trunk of acajou mahogany imported from Guinea, in Africa.
Mr Camilleri Cauchi, 60, is renowned for his extremely life-like representations of saints and other famous pious personalities connected with the Catholic Church.
Horace Farrugia, the Mdina gilder who was commissioned to carry out the gilding, said he gave the statue a treatment fit for a "king".
Mr Farrugia, 57, has had the statue at his studio for the past three years.
"Being able to work at a measured pace without being rushed has given me the time to come out with one of the finest and elaborate pieces of work I have ever done.
"I have tried to invert the process normally used in water gilding, using transparent red paint to give the statue a regal finish," Mr Farrugia said.
The de Paule band club plans a special march on Saturday to welcome the statue back home.
Band marches will meet the statue of Christ the King in Cospicua Road, Paola after it is transported there from Mr Camilleri Cauchi's studio in Fgura.
The statue will then be borne shoulder-high by a team of carriers up to the band club in the square close to the parish church.
The official celebrations of the feast of Christ the King will be held by the church throughout next week.
The Archbishop's curia insists that statues not approved by its commission would neither be allowed to be displayed in church nor accepted in religious processions.
The design of the statue of Christ the King sculpted by Mr Camilleri Cauchi was not submitted to the commission for clearance.
Is this a case that hope springs eternal for the de Paule band club?