To mark the 400th anniversary of the Madonna Ta’ Pinu painting – the work of Bartolomeo Amadeo Perugino – the Gozo Diocese is holding a Marian Year which ends on the eve of the feast of Santa Marija. The painting is being taken for a day in all 15 parishes in Gozo, with a stop also at the Gozo General Hospital last week.
Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said the aim of this initiative was that every parish community would be close to Our Lady and renew their devotion to Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu.
Every parish is organising a prayer vigil until midnight.
The miraculous image was taken out of Ta’ Pinu Sanctuary three times - twice to Victoria: in June 1949 at the conclusion of the Marian Congress in Gozo and in November 1950 on the occasion of the special feast when Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption Dogma. In April 2010, the painting was taken to the Granaries in Floriana for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, who had placed a golden rose in front of it and encouraged Christians to pray in front of the image, while calling her the Queen of Family.
The touring of the image comes to an end today with a pilgrimage from near the Pilgrim’s Monument on the road leading to Ta’ Pinu, where the painting will be taken back to its shrine.
The Ta’ Pinu painting in Nadur is pictured on the right.