News
Oct - Dec 2009
BirguFest
2009
Fort
St Angelo – the embodiment of Maltese history
Survivors:
the ageing population of Birgu
Youth
from Vittoriosa on missionary work
Environmental
Awareness Initiative
Bell-ringing
in Maltese Folklore
The
Relics of St Benigno
St
Francis Chapel at St Lawrence Church
150
th anniversary of heroic deed by Maltese citizen
St
John Ambulance celebrates centenary of its foundation in Malta
Festival
of Traditional Maltese Games
Pope
John XXIII visit to San Lorenzo Fuor Le Mura
Space
for memories – research initiative at Vittoriosa
Vittoriosa
Bocci Club
Prof.
Dominic Fenech interviewed
Filming
at Vittoriosa
Budget
2010
Children’s
Book Launch
Mro
Spagnol celebrates
Bulgarian
President’s visit to Vittoriosa
Rotary
Club Malta provides more historical signs
Fondazzjoni
Wirt Artna acquires sponsorship
Mr
Lino Bugeja wins journalism award 2009
Crib
at Auberge de France vaults
Carol
singing at St Scholastica Church
BirguFest 2009
The
Vittoriosa Local Council in collaboration with the Malta Tourism
Authority, the Ministry of Education and Culture, and with the full
cooperation of the residents, organised the three-day BirguFest
during October. The festival which is patonised by crowds coming from
all over the Island, takes place in Vittoriosa Square, in the narrow
streets of the city-centre and on its ramparts and walls. Various
activities are also held in-doors in the principal churches and old
buildings. The events included historical re-enacts mainly taken from
the Great Siege of 1565, eg. The Arrival of the Turkish Fleet, Defeat
of Fort St Elmo, Skirmishes in the Turkish Camp. One innovation this
year was the re-enactment of traditional Maltese hawkers on carts
selling kerosene, bread, milk and vegetables. There were also
historical tours, exhibitions, musical concerts by local and foreign
bands, including a pipe band, and choral representations. But the
main spectacle was the Birgu by Candlelight when, as in previous
years, the electricity is switched off and the streets are
illuminated by means of thousands of candles.
Fort St Angelo – the embodiment
of Maltese history
In a heart-felt appeal in an article
in The Sunday Times of Malta under the above title, historian Lino
Bugeja draws attention to the woeful neglect and dereliction of Fort
St Angelo and the dire need for immediate action by all concerned for
action to salvage this unique national monument before irreparable
structural damage is done. He points out that Fort St Angelo is more
than the impregnable citadel that stood against the might of Islam
during the Great Siege. Fort St Angelo represents Malta chequered
history since is foundation in Byzantine times in the 9th century.
Fort St. Angelo has left its mark on all aspects of Malta’s
turbulent history: military, maritime, ecclesiastical,
administrative, architectural, social and cultural.
Survivors: the aging population of
Birgu
The is the name of book by Joseph P Smith which is
the fruit of a six-year project. It consist of a series of
biographies and photographs depicting the life stories of a selection
of Vittoriosa senior citizens, showing that the ancient spirit of the
Birgu people still survives. Both the interviews and the photographs
are the work of the author. The publication has received an award in
a prestigious photographic contest in Paris. The book was launched in
special ceremony held at Caraffa Stores, Vittoriosa. The author
thanked the Vittoriosa Local and the people of Vittoriosa in helping
with the success of the book. The ceremony ended with a book
presentation to the veterans featured in the book. Among these is the
Society’s Vice-President, Anton Attard, and the Secretary,
Lorenzo Zahra. The author had earlier made an official presentation
of the book to H.E. the President of the Republic.
Youth from Vittoriosa on missionary
work
Jana Karamatskoos, a 21-year old youth from
Vittoriosa, joined the Mission Fund on a five-week voluntary work
experience in the small village of Mwanza, in Tanzania, where she
stayed with the Maltese nuns forming part of the White Sisters
Missionary Community. During her stay she helped in educational
activities to young children and also gave a hand in manual jobs as
necessary.
Environmental Awareness Initiative
Boys from the Vittoriosa Stars Nursery took part in an
clean-the-environment initiative held at Il-Foss, Vittoriosa, under
the guidance of the Vittoriosa Local Council in collaboration with
other local councils and the Secretariat for Public Dialogue and
Information.
Bell-ringing in Maltese Folklore
In
issue no. 33 of the Folklore Society's magazine L-Imnara, Saviour
Camilleri writes a study on the above subject. In the article, he
mentions the bell-ring traditions at the Cottonera including the
ringing of bells in the days preceding the feast of the parish
church; thus at Cospicua and Senglea, the Saturdays before the feast
of the Blessed Virgin are days of Marian devotion. At Vittoriosa, the
Dominican community keeps the Tuesdays in preparation for the feast
of St Dominic, while the feast of St Lawrence is anticipated by the
Wednesday rituals leading up to the novena. The article is
accompanied by pictures of the St Lawrence Church Belfry and of the
bells hanging therein. One tradition which is lost forever is the
pealing of these bells early at dawn at 4.00 am on 10 August,
joyfully heralding the feast of St Lawrence.
The Relics of St Benigno
Beneath
the altar of the chapel of St Catherine at St Lawrence Church, only
noticeable to the searching attention of the viewer, lie the relics
of the early Christian martyr, St Benigno. In the past the devotion
to this saint was very strong and people used to give this name to
new-born baby boys. Anton Attard, in issue no. 54 of the St Lawrence
Band bi-monthly bulletin, describes how this devotion started. The
relics were brought from Rome in 1725 by the Order’s flagship
galleon, Capitana. The relics were solemnly transported to Vittoriosa
in a procession with the participation of the Grand Master, the
Inquisitor, the Grand Prior of the Order, the cathedral chapter,
religious orders, priests and a large crowd. When the procession
passed along Birgu Wharf, the galleys that were berthed there made a
gunfire salute.
St Francis Chapel at St Lawrence Church
In in issue no. 54 of the St Lawrence Band bulletin,
Lorenzo Zahra also gives a brief history of the chapel dedicated to
St Francis at St Lawrence Collegiate Church. Devotion to St Francis
already existed at Vittoriosa since 1592 when a foundation was
established for the annual celebration of the saint’s feast on
4 October. When subsequently Gafa’ build the present church,
one of side-chapels was dedicated to St Francis. Nowadays, the chapel
is occupied by the niche of the processional statue of St Lawrence.
The painting of St Francis that used to hang on the altar is
preserved in the sacristy.
150 th anniversary of heroic deed by
Maltese citizen
A commemoration was held in Angelesy,
Wales, to recall the memory of a gallant feat by a Maltese citizen
hailing from Vittoriosa who has made a name for himself in maritime
history. Guze’ Ruggier, who had changed his name to Joseph
Rogers, was a seaman on the clipper The Royal Charter. He helped save
39 lives when the ship was battered to pieces against the craggy
rocks of North Wales in a terrible tempest on the night of 26 October
1859. He dared to swim the savage sea across to the mainland with a
rope tied around his waist and set up a boatswain’s chair to
haul people across to safety. Guze’ Ruggier was honoured with
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Gold Medal. The commemoration
held in Wales was attended by one of his descendants, Dr Raymond
Agius M.D., Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at
the University of Manchester School of Medicine, who is undertaking
research on the subject and hopes to have exhibits on Guze’
Ruggier placed at the Malta Maritime Museum. He was interviewed on
the Malta Independent on Sunday. He has created a website:
www.agius.com/maltese/ruggier.htm. Dr Agius is a member of the
Vittoriosa Historical & Cultural Society.
St John Ambulance celebrates centenary
of its foundation in Malta
St John Ambulance Brigade, as
it was then known, was set up in Malta in 1909. It forms part of the
Venerable Order of St John, which is the re-foundation of the Langue
of England of the Order, which was suppressed by King Henry VIII. The
first unit of St John Ambulance was located at Valletta which was
followed, in the following year, by the Cottonera Division, which had
its headquarters at Couvre Porte, Vittoriosa, where first aid and
home nursing training started to be held. The Division remained
active till the 1950s. For many years, Dr Joseph Saliba from
Vittoriosa was Commissioner of St John Ambulance. The centenary was
celebrated by Holy Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sanctuary,
Valletta, followed by a Reception in the hall of St Paul’s
Anglican Cathedral.
Festival of Traditional Maltese Games
Heritage Malta and the Vittoriosa Local Council organized
a unique festival of traditional Maltese games. Held in the streets
of Birgu and within the Inquisitor’s Palace, which is Malta’s
National Museum of Ethnography, the festival engaged children and
parents alike in the revival of games that for decades enlivened the
streets of the Islands’ towns and villages. The games played
included: Bocci, Ballun Stop, Gwerra Franciza, Iz-Zunzana Ddur Iddur,
Harba. Bum Bum il-Bieb. Band marches were played to enliven the
atmosphere. At the Museum there was an exhibition of altars and
church models presented from a private collection.
Pope John XXIII visit to San Lorenzo
Fuor Le Mura
In the periodic biographical notes that
Mons. Philip Calleja is writing in Lehen is-Sewwa, he recalls with
clear detail the visit he paid to the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuor Le
Mura in Rome on St Lawrence Feast Day in 1959. On that occasion, just
by coincidence, Pope John XXIII who had only some months earlier been
elected Pope, paid a visit and said prayers in the ancient Basilica,
which is one of Rome’s Five Patriarchal Basilicas. The Pope, in
a short homily, explained that he had paid homage to St Lawrence in
that church upon being ordained priest, upon becoming a bishop, and
at the start of the conclave. So he felt it his duty to return, now
that he had become Pontiff.
Space for memories – research
initiative at Vittoriosa
Atelier Culture Projects,
directed by Natasha Borg and Sara Falconi, with the support of the
European Cultural Foundation, are carrying out research aimed at
storing memories of the past. They have chosen Vittoriosa for their
case study because it simultaneously represents the past and the
contemporary, hidden beneath the façade of familiar buildings
and places within the city. The concept behind the initiative is that
memories are what give a locality its soul; memories can be archived
just like any cultural heritage and can be used as a testimony of the
people’s culture. The authors are carrying out interviews among
various strata of the citizens of Vittoriosa. A similar study will be
conducted in Parma, Italy, and in Stockholm, Sweden. The results of
this work will be a theatre performance and exhibition.
Vittoriosa Bocci Club
The
Vittoriosa Bocci Club hosted the final game of the bocci season
tournament and won the trophy, becoming 2009 national bocci
champions.
Prof. Dominic Fenech interviewed
The
Sunday Times of Malta carried an interview with Vittoriosa-born Prof.
Dominic Fenech, Head of the Department of History at the University
of Malta and Dean of the Faculty of Art. He was general secretary of
the Labour Party in 1977 – 1983 and he is still an active
political commentator. The interview is about his political thinking
and ideas.
Filming at Vittoriosa
The
film producers of the popular German police-dog television series
entitled Commissario Rex were at Vittoriosa shooting various scenes
on location.
Budget 2010
In the 2010
Budget Speech the Minister of Finance made specific mention of the
refurbishment of the Collacchio area at Vittoriosa when referring to
the Governments restoration plans for the coming year as part of the
upgrading of national heritage sites. There is also mention of the
restoration of the fortifications of Vittoriosa. Urgent repairs are
also to be undertaken at Fort St. Angelo.
Children’s Book Launch
Gnien
tad-Dmugh is the third is a trilogy of books aimed at older children.
It created a new benchmark in Maltese literature as it taps into a
fantasy world that had been sidelined for years by literary realism.
The characters are neither heroes nor warriors but ordinary people
who do extraordinary things in time of peril. The story is wrapped in
magic, that mysterious force emanating from nature: the land, the
trees, the rocks. The book, written by Lorrane Vella and Simon
Bartolo, was launched at Palazzo Caraffa at Vittoriosa Marina. The
book was a record breaker in terms of sales as over 1,500 copies were
sold from Vittoriosa on the first day of its launch.
Mro Spagnol celebrates
On
the occasion of the 10th anniversary since his appointment as
director of the Nicolo’ Isouard Band of Mosta, Mro Spagnol
conducted a grand concert of the Band at the Sir Temi Zammit
Universty Theatre. Among the musical pieces played were compositions
by Isouard and by Mro Spagnol.
Bulgarian President’s visit to
Vittoriosa
H.E. Mr Georgi Paranov, Bulgarian President,
accompanied by his wife and a number of high ranking officials from
the Bulgarian government, as well as the Bulgarian Ambassador and
Minister John Dalli, came to Vittoriosa as part of his State Visit to
Malta. He was greeted by the Mayor, Mr John Boxall at Couvre Porte,
where they exchanged gifts. The delegation was then taken for a
walking tour around the city.
Rotary Club Malta provides more
historical signs
Once again Rotary Club Malta has
supported the Vittoriosa Local Council by providing for the
installation of a set of 18 more didactic signs around the city
against historic building and sites.
Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna acquires
sponsorship
Shireburn Software, the reputable IT services
provider has granted financial aid to FWA to fund its activities
toward the preservation of monuments. The agreement was signed at
Notre Dame Gate, the FWA headquarters.
Mr Lino Bugeja wins journalism award
2009
Din l-Art Helwa heritage awards winners 2009
included Mr Lino Bugeja, Vittoriosa historian and environment
protection activist. One of the articles which won him the diploma is
The Grand Harbour’s Role in History, highlighting the need for
urgent restoration of the fortifications and old buildings,
particularly at Vittoriosa.
Crib at Auberge de France vaults
The
Christmas festivities at Vittoriosa were given a fitting start by the
inauguration by of a crib with life-size pasturi at the underground
vaults of the old Auberge de France. This was possible though the
initiative of the Vittoriosa Local Council. The place provides an
appropriate setting for the crib.
Carol singing at St Scolastica Church
An evening of Maltese folklore and carol singing was held
at St Scolastica Church within the Benedictine Convent with the
participation of the Ghaxaq Folk Ensemble. This consists of a choir
of guitar-playing school children. Mons. Paul Raggio, chaplain of the
Convent, thanked the choir for their splendid performance.