The premiere performance of an oratorio entitled San Ġiljan is being held in the parish church of St Julian’s on Friday 29 at 7.30pm.

The music is by Etienne Spiteri, bandmaster of the St Julian’s Band Club, to a libretto by Joe Friggieri and is scored for soloists and chorus. The Coro Bel Canto will take part.

The club, which was founded in 1927, was invited to take this matter in hand by a special commission set up to organise events to mark the 125th anniversary of the proclamation of the independent parish of St Julian by Archbishop-Bishop Pietro Pace on September 1, 1891.

Originally a small fishing and farming community, with two small churches dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, the area was part of the large parish of Birkirkara. The increase in population and its spiritual welfare led to the place being proclaimed a vice parish in 1852, and, in September 1891 an independent parish.

Although the annual feast of the patron saint is held on the last Sunday in August, the liturgical feast of the saint is held on January 27, which this year falls two days short of the premiere of the oratorio.

This new work highlights the life of the saint, who according to legend was probably from the Ardennes region now part of Belgium. He is normally depicted next to a stag which he was about to kill during a hunt. The stag spoke to him, saying that one day he would murder his own parents. The young man as he was then went into self-imposed exile in order to avoid this tragedy, but eventually the prophecy was unwittingly fulfilled.

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