Fr Joseph Hili

Fr Joseph Hili, the first parish priest of Fontana, Gozo, died 70 years ago. Born at Victoria in 1876, he was the brother of Mgr Alphonse, archpriest of Victoria, Mgr Carmelo, canon of the Gozo Cathedral, and Br George, a Capuchin friar who died at 23,...

Fr Joseph Hili, the first parish priest of Fontana, Gozo, died 70 years ago. Born at Victoria in 1876, he was the brother of Mgr Alphonse, archpriest of Victoria, Mgr Carmelo, canon of the Gozo Cathedral, and Br George, a Capuchin friar who died at 23, before being ordained.

When Fontana became a parish in 1911, ten years after his ordination, Mgr Giovanni Maria Camilleri, OSA, Bishop of Gozo, appointed him as its first parish priest.

Besides embellishing the parish church with various works of art, he proved a true father of his parishioners, especially the sick and poor.

After 26 years as parish priest, Fr Hili died at Victoria on March 8, 1937. On January 25, 1948, a monument was blessed by Bishop Joseph Pace at Fontana parish church. One of the parish streets bears his name.

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