SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES - 34 ; 35 & 36
Habits and auspices in the middle of the 18th century
Dun Furtunat Vella became the Parish priest who was in office for the longest period – sixty years – from 1617 to 1778; although for the last sixteen years the parish was run by Dun Salv Bonnici. When one looks at the history of those days one can see that Dun Furtunat Vella had lots of problems with the Inquisitor. He tried to defend himself as best as he could but for some years he was even imprisoned and the parish was put in the hands of an assistant Vicar. From the story as found in Volume two of the history of Senglea, page 243, one can see that Senglea was on various occasions run by an assistant vicar. The assistant vicar was not chosen when the Parish priest was going to be absent for a short period, in such cases the vice Parish priest used to take over.
During the sixty year period of Dun Furtunat Vella there were five different periods when the parish of Senglea was in the hands of the assistant vicar. They were: Dun Sistu Gambin, Dun Gann-Pawl Zammit, Dun Rafel Attard, Dun Felic Gambin and Dun Salv Bonnici.
In one of the volumes of Status Animarum of the parish of Senglea (St.A., A) on the front of this volume we find a note with instructions on how the parish should be run. It was during the time when Dun Felic Gambin was the assistant vicar, a period when Senglea did not have a Parish priest. Dun Gambin wrote that he was nominated assistant vicar in 1747. He was informed that the Parish priest had certain duties to perform and in his absence these duties had to be performed by the assistant vicar and Dun Gambin wanted to do his best and do all that he had to do.
The obligations were regarding invitations, shows of appreciation and bestowing of good wishes namely (a) on the feast of Candlemass (b) the solemn feast of Corpus Christi which was held on a Sunday (c) for the titular feast of Marija Bambina (d) further obligations with regards to invitations to the authorities for other feasts.
Here we are going to see only what obligations the representative of the parish had regarding auspices.
The Parish priest and the clergy were obliged to go and congratulate the newly appointed Grand Master and Bishop on their appointment. They also used to see off the Bishop when he was going to some overseas trip and welcome him back on his return. The Parish priest and clergy were also obliged to visit every new Inquisitor, welcome him to Malta, especially if he held the title of Apostolic Delegate – the present day Apostolic Nuncio.
On Christmas day and New Year’s Day the Parish priest used to visit the Grand Master and the Bishop. The greeting to the Bishop used to he given at the Bishop’s palace in Valletta. If at Christmas time the Bishop would not be at Valletta the greetings were given at Easter.
Further habits will be pointed out in later articles.
SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES - 35
Traditions connected with the feast of Candlemass in the middle of the 18th century
The feast of Candlemass had special meaning for Senglea. Apart from the Oratory of Candlemass, which is an annex of the parish church, there was also the group called ‘l-Onorati’. This group was set up in 1622 and at first used to meet at the church of St Julians also in Senglea. After some time they moved and made the Oratory of Candlemass their headquarters. This group was also known as the Congregation of the Purification. The parish had its own way of celebrating this feast on the 2nd February. The name Candlemass reminds us of the candles which were distributed on this particular feast day.
This feast and the distribution of candles in Senglea in 1737 are clearly documented in Volume II of the History of Senglea on page 252. But we have further information about this feast as found in the manuscript of Dun Felic Gambin himself (APS, St. A.,A).
Dun Felic wrote that on the feast day of the Purification of Our Lady (as the feast of Candlemass is liturgically known) at about one in the afternoon, the Parish priest or whoever was running the parish at that particular time, used to go to the sacristy of the parish. There he used to meet all the procurators and the sexton. They would have already prepared the blessed candles so that they could be presented to the authorities. The sexton used to carry the candles.
The first visit was to the Grand Master, who at that particular time was Pinto. After some time, Pinto was to become the Rector of the Fraternity of the Crucifix. The vicar-curate used to present him with a candle which was blessed during a ceremony held in the morning.
In a similar ceremony the vicar-curate, the procurators and the sexton went to the Bishop and presented him with a candle similar to the one presented to the Grand Master. The Bishop at that time was Mons Pawlu Alpheran de Bussan.
The vicar-curate than sent the procurator and the sexton to present a candle to the Bailiff. This Knight of the Order of St John was appointed by the Grand Master with full administrative power over the armed forces in Malta and Gozo. A similar candle, in the name of the Parish priest was also presented to the Bishop’s vicar. The Bishop’s vicar was the top dignitary after the Bishop.
Senglea also had its own Governor who was a Knight. The Governor and his staff were also presented with a blessed candle on behalf of the parish.
There was also the Magistrate at the University. This was a group of people chosen to represent the citizens of Malta. It had nothing to do with modern day University where one goes to learn for a profession. Senglea was much in debt to this University which at times used to financially help the parish. For this reason the Magistrate of the University was also presented a candle by the procurator.
The vicar-curate Dun Felic Gambin was very careful that all these traditions were strictly adhered too.
SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES - 36
Maundy Thursday as celebrated in Senglea in days gone by
If we go through the history of the first one hundred and twenty years of the parish of Senglea we find that the faithful than had great possibilities to take part in all the church ceremonies. The Church always insisted that the Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the Holy Week be considered as holy festive days. Unfortunately not all secular states agreed with this notion. Nonetheless, in our islands this tradition has been kept even up to the present era. The worse hit was Maundy Thursday because Friday and Saturday are still considered as festive days.
In days gone by Maundy Thursday was the most important day of the Holy Week. Public sinners were given public pardon during a service held on this day. According to records held there are list of people from Senglea who led a notorious life and these lists were handed over to the Bishop during official pastoral visits. Mostly they were people who abandoned their marriage partners. There were even worse cases when these persons took on, illegally a new partner. There full names and surnames are also noted in the ‘status animarum’ (state of the souls) which used to be sent on a regular basis to the Bishop.
It was a normal procedure that those persons who showed contrition were received back in the Church on Maundy Thursday. Pardon used to be solemnly given to them during a public act of contrition.
The main ceremony on Maundy Thursday was the solemn Mass held in remembrance of Our Lord’s Last Supper. On Maundy Thursday, in those days, as is even the norm nowadays, only one Mass was said. Up to the early sixties, that is up to the second Vatican Council, the Mass used to he held in the morning. Once Mass was over the Blessed Sacrament used to be transported solemnly to the altar of reposition and visits to the altar of reposition used to start. The tradition holds that seven visits to seven different churches were held. For many years these visits in Senglea were organised by various organisations, fraternities, churches and oratories of the parish, such as the Parish church, the Oratory of the Crucifix, the Oratory of Candlemass, the Church of St Philip and the church of St Julians. Those who were unable to walk long distances could do the seven visits in the same church but they had to leave the church after each visit and than re enter for another visit. This is more or less the same as we do today. The only slight change is in the time these visits are now held. In pre Vatican Council days the visits used to start on Thursday morning and finish on Friday at noon. Now they start late on Thursday and end on Friday in the afternoon. This change came about because Mass on Maundy Thursday started to be celebrated late in the evening like it used to be held in the early days of the Church.
Nowadays, Mass on Maundy Thursday the clergy and the Arch priest concelebrate Mass together. In the past there was no concelebrating. There were times when Senglea had over sixty priests and it was an impressive view to see them in their priestly garb while they go to receive the Holy Communion from the hands of the celebrant.
The year 1879 was an important year in the history of Senglea. That was the last year the procession with the statues of the Passion of Christ was held on a Thursday. From the following year, 1880, the procession started to be held on Good Friday.