Catholic Malta will finally be blessed with its first saint on June 3 when Dun Gorg Preca will be canonised, together with three other Blesseds, during a ceremony at the Vatican, in Rome.
The declaration was made by Pope Benedict XVI during a solemn 45-minute meeting at the Vatican's 15th century Sala del Concistorio yesterday.
Dun Gorg, who set up the MUSEUM, the Society of Christian Doctrine, will be canonised on the same day as Simone da Lipnica, Carlo di Sant'Andrea and Maria Eugenia di Gesù. The canonisation of Antonio di Sant'Anna will take place on May 11 in Brazil, to coincide with the Pope's visit, Mgr Charles Scicluna, the postulator in the cause of Dun Gorg said.
"It was a dignified ceremony in the Sala del Concistorio, which is adorned with Flemish tapestries and a wood ceiling inlaid with gold," Mgr Scicluna said, describing the moment. The meeting of the Congregation For Sainthood Causes, under the leadership of Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, started at 11 a.m. with hymns, three psalms and reading from the scriptures in Latin.
After this, Cardinal Saraiva Martins read a short biography of each of the five individuals proposed for sainthood, starting with Dun Gorg.
"Among other things, he quoted a memorable piece from Pope John Paul II's speech during his visit to Malta in May 2001 when he said: 'Blessed George was a man of faith, an apostle of faith, and after St Paul, the second father of the Maltese faith'," Mgr Scicluna said when contacted by The Times in Rome.
After the biographies, Pope Benedict XVI was informed of the cardinals' voting which had been sent to the Holy See over the past days. He announced that the cardinals had agreed that the five should be canonised.
"At this moment he stopped and asked whether the cardinals - there were about 70 present in all - wanted to make any further comments or objections. There was absolute silence. The Pope then smiled and decreed by his papal authority that all five should be canonised. There were smiles but no clapping... it was a very solemn ceremony," Mgr Scicluna said.
Born in Valletta on February 12, 1880, Dun Gorg was the seventh of nine children in a deeply religious family. He set up the MUSEUM in a small room at Hamrun. The society has centres in Australia, Sudan, Kenya, Peru, London and Albania. The acronym MUSEUM stands for the Latin words Magister Utinam Sequatur Evangelium Universus Mundus - "Master, may the whole world follow the Gospel!".
The decision to canonise Dun Gorg is based on two miracles.
The first happened on February 3, 1964, when Charles Zammit Endrich's detached retina healed after he placed a relic of Dun Gorg under his pillow.
More recently, in 2001, a baby boy who developed severe liver complications and needed a liver transplant to survive, made a full recovery after fervent prayers were made to Dun Gorg and a glove used in his exhumation was placed on the child.
Present in Rome to receive the news was a delegation made up of 22 people led by Archbishop Emeritus Mgr Joseph Mercieca and Gozo Bishop Mgr Mario Grech. Among them was Judicial Vicar Mgr Arthur Said Pullicino, the Archbishop's ecclesiastical delegate Mgr Lawrence Gatt, vice-postulator Joseph Fenech, the MUSEUM's superior general Victor Delicata and the superior general for the female section Phyllis Falzon, as well as their counsels and priests.