The centenary of the death of Archbishop Pietro Pace was commemorated on July 29 in Victoria where he was born on April 9, 1831.

Pace was instrumental in the establishment of the Gozo diocese on September 16, 1864. In 1877 he was chosen as the third bishop of Gozo.

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, the eighth bishop of Gozo, said a Mass for the repose of Pace’s soul at St Francis church, Victoria, close to the house where he died and where his relatives still live. In his homily, Grech said Pace loved the Church deeply and that he went out of his way to better the fate of the Gozitans and of his island home.

Among his many achievements, Grech mentioned that Pace was instrumental in the foundation of the Gozo Seminary, which raised the level of education in Gozo and had also been the one to convince the British colonial government to subsidise the first regular steamship service between Malta and Gozo.

In a short speech before the end of the Mass, Gozo historian Joseph Bezzina highlighted the achievements of Pace’s episcopate in Gozo on a religious and social level.

The Gozo diocese will officially commemorate the centenary on November 14 when Grech will lead the Gozitan clergy in a concelebrated Mass at the cathedral in Victoria, where Pace is buried.