The statue as it is today, after being restored. Photo: Jason Borg

The statue of St Gregory in Sliema has been restored to its original state after a communication breakdown between the Church and the restorer led to a complete makeover of the saint.

John Seychell Navarro – the great-grandson of the couple who commissioned the original 1950s wooden statue tailor-made to suit the architecture of the parish church – said the family were happy with the result.

He is glad that the plaque bearing the name of his great-grandparents Alfred and Mary Vella is affixed to a statue they would recognise.

“We are very satisfied and grateful to the parish priest and to restorer Fr Charles Vella, who always understood that this is important for our family,” Mr Seychell Navarro said.

All’s well that ends well

The saint’s transformation was brought to light by Times of Malta in August last year, ahead of the feast of St Gregory.

Instead of being restored, the original statue by Italian sculptor Angelo Righetti had been covered in papier mâché and transformed into a completely different, larger and younger-looking saint.

The statue in 2010, before its reinterpretation.

Righetti also created the statue of the Immaculate Conception located at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence in Italy.

Fr Vella, who carried out the papier mâché works, insisted he had been following instructions to “renovate and reinterpret” the statue and that he was guided by festa enthusiasts after being told the Church had permits to go ahead.

This made sense to him since he always believed that artwork found in churches had a functional role: to serve the needs of the people.

However, it turned out that the statue was only meant to be restored.

On hearing that the benefactors were not satisfied with the result, Fr Vella offered to restore the statue for free. Works started in January.

Fr Vella started by removing the papier mâché layer to expose the wooden statue that was intact given that he had ensured the intervention was reversible.

The statue after the papier mâché intervention.

He found that the statue had had various interventions along the years so he stripped off the layers of accumulated paint, which included black “lip-liner” around the mouth and thicker eyebrows making the saint look sterner.

He then researched the 1950s statue using photos, some provided by the benefactors.

Gold paint was used on the robe, the red jewels were cleaned as was the small glass casing intended to host a relic of the saint. The parish has applied to the Vatican to obtain a relic.

Looking back, Fr Vella and Mr Seychell Navarro now see that this saga, that was thankfully solved, highlighted the passion people had for village feasts and statues.

“All’s well that ends well,” Mr Seychell Navarro said, heaving a sigh of relief.