The feast of the prince of martyrs

I very much doubt whether there is any other parish in Malta and Gozo that takes its music as seriously as St George, in Victoria. Many habitual visitors to Gozo will not miss 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday morning, knowing that their weekly devotions are going to be enhanced by varied music composed to edify the soul as much as it glorifies the Creator. For many years, under the guidance of one of Malta's premier composers, Joseph Vella, and the Laudate Pueri Choir, under the direction of Fr George Frendo, the music produced at St George's Basilica has enhanced its services, Sunday in and Sunday out. This high level of music-making reaches its apogee during the feast of St George in mid July.

St George is one of my favourite saints. Although the story of the princess's rescue from the dragon is probably largely apocryphal and based loosely on the legend of Perseus and Andromeda, it shows how adroitly the early Church reinvented itself within the framework of the Roman Empire. St George, the eternal paladin, is the champion of the Church, symbolised by the princess. The dragon, naturally, symbolises paganism. St George is a great and inspiring hero and another father of the early Church who defied the pagan regime and paid for it by martyrdom.

It cannot be denied that as a nation our Christian roots cannot but be based on Byzantine tradition; nearly all of our older parishes have patron saints of Greek origin like St George, St Catherine and St Nicholas. Although all traces of the Byzantine or Orthodox rite were eventually ousted by the Roman one, the love of ceremony, ritual and music still pervade our feasts which I maintain go from strength to strength despite the godlessness and materialism of our age.

An event like St George's feast restores my faith in us as a nation; proving that all is not lost. The sense of mystery and awe that is so essential in the maintenance of faith has not, as many believe, been thrown in the dustbins of history. I attended the vespers on Saturday evening. These are known in Maltese as ghasar and were composed by Mgr Giuseppe Farrugia (1850-1925) who, oddly enough, has the same name but is no relation of the present archpriest of St George who, together with Joseph Vella and Fr George Frendo, is the mastermind of St George's feast and its ancillary Victoria Arts Festival.

I had never sat through vespers before as I did for a good hour and a half in St George's Basilica. However, the compositional excellence, if a bit overtly Rossinian at times, and the quality of the singing was so good that the time literally flew by. If the vespers were impressive they in no way prepared me for the splendour of the High Mass on Sunday morning. Presided over by the brand new Bishop of Gozo, Mgr Mario Grech, the ceremonial was set to the music of Joseph Vella's lovely and stirring Mass in D subtitled Princeps Martyrum, Prince of Martyrs, in honour of St George, which, way back in 1977, was sung for the first time by what was then the Malta Choral Society with yours truly happily burbling and gurgling in the tenor section.

A splendid ceremony lasting the best part of three hours again flew by most pleasurably making me wonder why I had never thought of attending these important religious ceremonies known as festi interni before and always thinking that the procession itself was the most important aspect of the feast when in reality it is merely the ultimate fulfilment of it.

Instead of the traditional panegyric, an experience not for the faint-hearted, the new Bishop delivered a pragmatic, erudite and comprehensive homily that conveyed a direct message to us all about our Christian values. I have become a great fan of His Grace Mgr Grech, who has already achieved, in his still very young episcopate, a delicate balance between maintaining the dignity of his high office and charming approachability, when this is coupled with evident scholarship and the ability to deliver homilies that are masterpieces in oratorical composition, the result is impressive indeed. To boot he is also blessed with an excellent singing voice.

I am always pleasantly surprised and eternally fascinated by the fervour shown by all those involved in the making of a successful annual feast. There is indeed so much that we don't know about. So many days, weeks and hours of preparation for this one day that re-enacts the traditions of a town or village and combines the religious with the secular in a synergy that exists at no other time during the year.

The Collegiate Chapter of St George's Basilica goes more than one step further as it also organises the Victoria International Arts Festival now in its ninth edition. This classical music festival lasts no fewer than five weeks and includes piano recitals, chamber music, choral music and operatic music not to mention master classes and art exhibitions.

A visit to Gozo in July will prove that there is so much more to a festa than the fireworks that many condemn as dangerous noise pollution. A festa is an exclusively Maltese tradition that is truly ours and has developed dramatically over the years proving that it is far from a dying art as many seem to think. To achieve this one must follow the example of the organisers of the St George Basilica feast and adapt and transform the traditional basic event into a cultural one to appeal to all types and tastes. This would have been impossible to achieve without plenty of hard work, effort, risk and meticulous preparation producing the very felicitous results which enhance the festa by making it more relevant in the young millennium we live in.

kzt@onvol.net