Fr Geoffrey Attard writes:

It was early on Tuesday morning, liturgical commemoration of St Martin Bishop of Tours, when Mgr Anton Gauci of Victoria passed away at the venerable age of 88 years.

I had known Mgr Gauci for many years and I can still recall the many times when, as a little boy, my father used to take me to the Ninu Cremona Lyceum in Victoria where he used to teach in the very school where Mgr Gauci was headmaster for many years. In fact, Mgr Gauci’s name is synonymous with education and, particularly, education in Gozo.

Since 1960, he had taught English, Italian and religious education at the Lyceum and it was in 1975 that he became assistant head of the school and, later on, headmaster. In 1985, he was made assistant director of education and then Permanent Delegate of Malta for Unesco. In addition, he was given many more prestigious appointments.

His publications are numerous because he was a prolific writer, possibly the most productive writer on Gozo after the late Bishop Nikol Cauchi. Among his many publications, his Pajjiżi Taħt l-Ingliżi is my favourite one and I recommend it to those who hold the history of the island of Gozo to their heart.

There is no doubt that Mgr Gauci loved his native island of Gozo wholeheartedly and he was, in fact, the author of one of the earliest – if not the first – guidebook on Gozo.

Mgr Gauci was of a strong character; he was renowned for his friendship with Dom Mintoff and he was definitely an outspoken person on all that he held dear or believed in.

With his death, Gozo or, rather, the Maltese islands have lost one of their most erudite sons and a fine intellectual.

Mgr Gauci was the type of person one either liked or disliked but he was certainly a man who reflected his inner being in many ways. The island of Gaulos is the poorer now that he is departed.

May God grant him eternal rest.