Ten years after the canonisation of Dun Ġorġ Preca, Joseph Abdilla reflects on the Maltese priest and his belief in the beauty of the human heart, that when nurtured in gentleness, humility and moderation, can lead to a life of true happiness.
In April 2005, just before his election as Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made a bold statement: “We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognise anything as definitive and whose ultimate standard consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.”
On the same lines, French philosopher Jean Baudrillard laments that our world is being besieged by “alternative facts” and news that have more information but “less and less meaning”.
In this shaky world of shifting “imitation”, we need more stable signposts pointing to perpetual truths. One such pointer was brought to our attention on a raining morning on June 3, 2007, a decade ago today, at St Peter’s square during the canonisation ceremony of Dun Ġorġ Preca.
That morning promised to be clear and thousands of visitors and pilgrims, including many Maltese and Gozitans, started filling St Peter’s large piazza when the unexpected happened and the square was transformed into a yawning canopy of dripping umbrellas.
During the solemn Mass that followed, Pope Benedict XVI canonised four blesseds including the Maltese priest Dun Ġorġ (1880-1962). By the end of the eucharistic celebration, the rain stopped, with some jokingly describing it as “troppo grazia” (too much grace) while others who knew the saint more closely saw it as the last prank that Dun Ġorġ played on all present, particularly on those who felt somewhat puffed up with this newly-acclaimed feat.
Nonetheless, whatever Dun Ġorġ might have thought up in heaven, canonisation did confirm his holiness and the validity of his unfailing message. Indeed he was always against “chiasso”, or outward show and pretensions, precisely because it is momentary, narcissistic and alienating, while he was after eternal truths so essentially beneficial for a humane life down here on earth.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Pope Pius X was urging the Catholic Church to educate against ignorance of the faith by catechising the faithful and help them learn and understand the content and benefits of its truths. This was explored in a specific way when, in 1905, Pope Pius X wrote the encyclical entitled Acerbo Nimis on Christian teaching.
In Malta, the young and fervent Dun Ġorġ Preca, newly ordained to the priesthood in December 1906, was taking some humble initiatives to answer to this call. Focused as he was on God, Dun Ġorġ believed strongly in the nobility of all human beings saved by Jesus Christ. He tirelessly invited everyone to become friends of the Word of God and especially to the “voice of the beloved Jesus”.
In his freedom of spirit, Dun Ġorġ rose above the known forms of his day in order to bring the knowledge of this truth to all, for echoing Jesus, he held ‘that only truth sets one free’. He was moved to work against ignorance, the root of all evils, by offering good instruction for the real benefit of human well-being. Opposition and slander did not disrupt his steadfast seeking of God’s will and the people’s eternal welfare. During the homily, Pope Benedict XVI described Dun Ġorġ as “a friend of Jesus and a witness to the holiness that derives from him... a priest totally dedicated to evangelisation”.
During the first turbulent decades of the 20th century, Dun Ġorġ succeeded to communicate to the Maltese ideas and theologies about eternity and virtue in a way that the people could understand and connect with.
In a direct and simple language he showed that sin, greed and the idolatry of the ego work against the common good of a nation.
Dun Ġorġ preached and wrote in Maltese about the beauty of the human heart when nurtured in gentleness, humility and moderation – a virtuous lifestyle that leads to a life of true happiness. Many years before, and after years of searching and experimenting various philosophies, Augustine of Hippo had asserted that only those who “possess God possess happiness”.
Out of his immense reverence for God, Dun Ġorġ treated with great respect everybody regardless of age or status. It was also evident that he was closer towards poor children and the lowest in society, those called by Canadian Catholic philosopher and theologian Jean Vanier as “the least significant”.
For this very reason, Saint Ġorġ Preca emphasised that policies and public decision that come as a result of right conscience in a relationship with God will truly lead towards the progress of a nation. Otherwise, people remain self-seeking and manipulative both of others and the environment.
Justin Welby, an experienced financial controller and now the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury since 2013, wrote about this issue in a book entitled: Dethroning Mammon (Lent 2017). Welby reflects on the terrible consequences on individuals and society when the idols of self and money replace God.
On the contrary, “When Mammon is dethroned and Christ takes its place, we do not have cruelty, but love and grace. We do not have shortage but abundance and human flourishing. We do not have deception but we have truth. To say these things is to advocate money being mastered and Mammon dethroned in both the hearts of the individual and in the systems of society” (Bloomsbury, p. 135).
Removing ‘idols’ is an unrelenting struggle.
Saint Ġorg Preca continues to enlighten us even today as to how we may bring about this much desired and needed conversion of our heart that will then result in a humane social system that works for the common good.
Joseph Abdilla is a member of the Society of Christian Doctrine.
Road to sainthood
1907 – March 7: Rented a small house in Ħamrun where he set up the Society of Christian Doctrine - MUSEUM.
1962 – July 26: Dun Ġorġ dies at the age of 82.
1964 – February 3: Charles Zammit Endrich believes a miracle has taken place when his detached retina inexplicably heals after his friend placed a shoelace used by Dun Ġorġ under his pillow the preceding day.
1975 – June 27: Vatican authorises Archbishop Michael Gonzi to initiate proceedings for the beatification of Dun Ġorġ.
1998 – February 17: Documentation relevant to the beatification cause of Dun Ġorġ is presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome by Mgr Charles Scicluna, postulator of the cause.
1999 – June 28: Dun Ġorg is declared venerable by Pope John Paul II.
2000 – January 27: Pope John Paul II approves the decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on the first miracle by Dun Ġorġ which paves the way for beatification.
2000 – July 8: The remains of Dun Ġorġ are exhumed from the crypt under the chapel of the MUSEUM’s headquarters in Blata l-Bajda.
2001– May 9: Dun Ġorġ is beatified by Pope John Paul II along with Nazju Falzon and Adeodata Pisani during a ceremony at the Granaries in Floriana. The Pope also visits the MUSEUM and prays in the chapel housing the remains of the society’s founder.
2001 – December: Parents of a baby boy born six months earlier report his unexplained recovery from liver failure to the postulator after they placed a glove on the boy that was used in Dun Ġorġ’s exhumation.
2007 – January 11: The Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome approves a second miracle that should lead to the canonisation of Blessed Ġorġ Preca.
2007 – February 15: Pope Benedict XVI approves the decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on the second miracle by Blessed Ġorġ Preca that is expected to lead to canonisation.
2007 – June 3: Dun Ġorġ Preca is declared a saint during a ceremony at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Over 5,000 Maltese attend in the pouring rain.
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