Chapter 7

The care and decorations of the statues

     The Fraternity has always been responsible for the care and any maintenance necessary of the statues of Good Friday. In previous chapters we saw how in 1742 when the vestry at the back of the main altar of the Oratory was being built, niches were constructed to store these statues in them. These niches, enclosed by glass panel doors to protect the statues from dust and keep them safe from one Good Friday procession to the other. In this way the statues can be on view all the year round, especially during the period of the feast of Our Lady of Victory (Marija Bambina) in early September. During the time of the feast the vestry is specially decorated and the statues are adorned with the accessories usually used on Good Friday.

                  From our records we know that in the middle of the 19th century, the artist Karlu Darmanin restored all the statues and even modified the position of some of them. In 1890, the restorer Lorenzo Cafiero carried out some maintenance work on some statues and in 1902 the urn of the entombment was repaired and gilded. In 1918, Karmnu Mallia, who also made a new statue of Our Lady of Sorrows in 1921, carried out a lot of repair works on these statues. After the war it was the turn of Andrea Ghio to work on repairing the statues. In the early 60s, the statues were painted over by the artist Carmelo Spiteri. In 1980 the artist Alfred Camilleri Cauchi was given the task to repair the body of Jesus on the Cross. The statue was in such a bad state that most of it had to be built up from scratch. Nearer to our time, between the years 1986 and 1988, all the statues were repaired and painted over by the restorer John Pace.

The ornament of the statues

     In all these years, the Fraternity of the Crucifix always planned on how to decorate this statue in the best possible way. From our records we find that at times some benefactors donated an aureole or some other ornament but most of these ornaments were paid for out of the funds of the Fraternity. All the ornaments are made of silver, namely the aureole of all the statues, the oil cup used with the statues of the Crucifixion and Our Lady of Sorrows, the rod in the hands of Jesus crowned with Thorns and all the sandals in the feet of many of the statues. The four crosses used in the statues of Jesus in the Garden; Jesus the Redeemer; the Crucifixion and in the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows have each end of the cross capped with a silver head. The crosses of the Crucifixion and of Our Lady of Sorrows also have the INRI inscriptions. The latter are also of silver but gilded in gold.

       The star studded halo (l-istellarju) and the daggers of the two statues of Our Lady are both gilded with gold and have a diamond stuck in each star and dagger.

     The sunburst of Jesus the Redeemer was made in 1838 by the silversmith Paolo Schembri. Later on it was also gilded in gold. It was donated by Giovanni and Filomena Fernandes after a vow they had made. The aureole of the statue of Veronica was made by Vincenzo Cachia in 1852 and paid for by Gaetano Catania. It looks likely that the remaining silver ornaments were commissioned by the Fraternity out of its own funds between the years 1841 and 1872. These works are attributed mainly to the following silversmiths: Saverio Canataci, Pietro Paolo Busuttil, Paolo Schembri and Felicissimo Rosso. The chalice in the hands of the angel in the statue of Jesus in the Garden (l-Ort) was given to the Fraternity in 1964 by the Frendo family, although the chalice was made before this date.

     Other characteristic ornaments of these statues are the cords and tassels made of golden threads. These are placed around the waist or in the hands of the statues according to need. A dark and velvet cope which was made in 1907, covers the back of the statue of Jesus crowned with thorns. The popular name of this statue, that is Porpra (purple), is derived from the particular colour of this cope. The edge of the cope is decorated with a design in the form of thorns, made also of golden threads.

The daises supporting the statue (il-Bradelli)

     Here one must remark that all Good Friday statues are exposed in the church, except for the statue of the entombment which is placed in the centre of the Oratory of the Crucifix. During the period of Good Friday, the Oratory is also decorated with red silk tapestry. All the inscriptions and symbols which are used in the Good Friday procession are also put on display in the Oratory.

       The old usage of having four scones for candles at each corner of the dais was kept on even for the new set of daises. These bronze scones were made by two Senglea born artists. Pio Mangion designed them on the same style of the old scones of the statue of Jesus the Redeemer and Vanni Bartolo made the scones.  These scones were made between 1978 and 1983 and were gilded in silver by the firm Azzopardi Electroplaters during the same time. Vanni Bartolo was also responsible for the restoration of the silver scones which are used on the dais of the statue of Jesus the Redeemer. This restoration work was carried out between 1994 and 1996. Each statue also has a silver gilded metal vase for holding flowers in them during the Holy Week. These vases are located in the middle of each dais on the front side between the scones.

     These decorations attached to the statues bring lots of décor and devotion both when they are exposed in the church during the weeks prior to Good Friday and also during the Good Friday procession itself.