Malta is often described as a very Catholic country, and certainly the processions in Birgu are a regular public demonstration of this belief. The main processions of the year are on Good Friday and Easter, as well as during the two festas in August. However, other processions do occur. Three recent ones are the topic of this post.
In early February, a procession revolved around the arrival in Birgu of an icon of Our Lady of Grace. The event involved clergy from Zabbar, where there is a Sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Grace. Indeed, even before the time of the Order of St. John in Malta, pilgrimages to this Sanctuary were held on the first Sunday in Lent. The Knights extended the significance of this pilgrimage, organising it as an act of penance for sins committed during Carnival. Today the pilgrimage still occurs and is known as Ħadd in-Nies,or People’s Sunday.
The event in Birgu involved all three of the main churches here. The icon arrived in the Church of the Annunciation on the evening of Wednesday 12th February, and was transferred to the Church of Santa Scholastica the following day. That evening, a procession led by the Zabbar Scouts left the Church of St. Lawrence and crossed the main square to collect the icon.
The procession included clergy and others from the parishes of both Zabbar and St. Lawrence.
Having collected the icon, the Scouts and clergy processed around the seaward end of the Birgu peninsula, arriving back in the main square and then on to the Church of St. Lawrence.
The event was concluded by the concelebration of Mass by the clergy of Birgu and Zabbar.
More recently the first days of Lent were marked by two processions. Ash Wednesday saw the Procession of the Redeemer, with the statue carried from the Church of Santa Scholastica around the landward end of the city before returning to the beautifully lit Pjazza and from there to the Church of St. Lawrence.
February 28th was the first Friday of Lent, and saw the first of several weekly processions organised by the Kummissjoni Ġimgħa Kbira Birgu, the Birgu Commission for Good Friday. Traditionally Fridays, especially the Fridays in Lent, have been associated with the Passion, and the Good Friday Commission is marking this association by reviving a tradition which goes back to the time of the Knights and even earlier.
Each Friday during Lent, a short procession will begin at the Oratory of the Crucifix, circle the main Pjazza of the city and then return to the Church of St. Lawrence. The first procession was led by priests from the St. Lawrence Chapter, and by a group of men dressed in robes of purple, the liturgical colour for Lent, which represents penitence and preparation.
The central feature of the procession is the statue, carried on the shoulders of eight men. In this case it was the statue of Christ in the Olive Grove, but during the course of Lent a number of statues, each depicting a different event of the Passion, will be carried to the Church of St. Lawrence in this way. The next two Fridays of Lent, for example, will have processions that carry the statues of Christ Bound to the Column and then the Flagellation of Christ. All of the statues depicting the Passion will later be carried in a much longer procession around the parish, on the morning of Good Friday.
Interesting comment from Alex Ciantar – thank you:
One needs to note that the Good Friday processions were first introduced to Malta by the Birgu parish. Birgu being a maritime city had a lot of its sea-men visiting other catholic countries such as Spain, where they witnessed these devout processions. Being devout catholics themselves they brought to Birgu the first statues to start similar processions. This soon escalated to other towns and villages in the surrounding area, and later all of Malta. The statues of Vittoriosa are the oldest in Malta and the only set that are life size, are adorned with real clothing and are realistic as it is done in Spain – hence why they are called ‘ta Spanja’.