St Monica schools recently celebrated the memory of Maria Teresa Spinelli, the founder of the Augustinian Sisters Servants of Jesus and Mary, who was declared venerable by Pope Francis last October.

Around 1,590 students attending schools in Birkirkara, Gżira and Mosta and the schools’ staff, together with a number of Augustinian Sisters and ex-teachers, attended Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, together with concelebrants Mgr Charles Cordina, Fr Charles Mallia, O.Carm. and other clergy.

The service was held in the square opposite the school in Fleur de Lys, where the monument to Maria Teresa Spinelli stands. Sitting on cushions and wearing caps and memento scarves, the students, aged five to 15, sang hymns with the schools’ Music Ministry.

Sr Rachel Frendo, Mother Provincial of the Augustinian Sisters in Malta, unveiled a plaque to commemorate the occasion. The monument to this pioneering educator was put up 25 years ago.

Mother Maria Teresa Spinelli opened the first school for girls run by her Sisters in Frosinone in 1821. Her tenets – education for all, respect for individual differences and needs and the importance of a holistic education – still resonate today. Her profound Christian foundation and her urge to educate pupils with love and respect still live on in the lives of the thousands who have been educated in her schools both in Malta and abroad.

One of the Sisters said: “I call it a God-incidence, rather than a co-incidence.”