Chapter 12

Good Friday during the war and at the Church of St Philip

     It is appropriate that one take a look at how Good Friday was celebrated during the troubled war years and in the years afterwards, when it could not be held like before.

     The last time the procession was held in peacetime was in 1939. In 1940, even though Malta had not as yet been involved in any war action, all feasts and external manifestations were cancelled. In January 1941 Senglea was under heave attack in what is still remembered as the ‘Illustrious attack’. The church was badly hit and many realised that some drastic action had to be immediately taken. Fortunately the statues of Our Lady of Victories (Marija Bambina), which was solemnly crowned on the 4^th September 1921 following a Vatican degree, and the statue of Jesus the Redeemer (ir-Redentur) both came out undamaged. A decision was taken and it was decided to move them out of further danger. These two statues were taken immediately to the Collegiate of St Helen in Birkirkara. It was also decided that any removable object would be taken to a safe place. So with the great help of Guzeppi Genovese, who had been a procurator of the Fraternity since 1923, the brother (fratell) Kelinu Sciriha, who later on became Prefect of the Fraternity and Frangisku Caruana, who afterwards became procurator, the statues of Good Friday were taken to the village of Naxxar: the entombment stored in the church of St James and the rest of the statues were taken to the church of St Lucy.

      In 1944 the Chapter of the Collegiate and the Fraternity decided to hold again the Good Friday procession in a simpler format than it used to be held in the pre war days. The war was not over yet but all action was being carried out away from our islands. By then the statues had not been transported back to Senglea. It was very difficult for the Fraternity to organise the procession, especially when remembers that most of the streets of Senglea were full of rubble and debris from the bombed out buildings. The Fraternity decided to hold the procession only with the statue of Jesus the Redeemer but the Archbishop Michael Gonzi was against this idea. He felt that the streets of Senglea were still in a total mess and he did not want to expose the statue to any unnecessary danger. So only the Entombment was carried during this make shift procession. Since the Parish Church was extensively damaged the procession came out of the Church of Our Lady of Save Haven, locally known as tal-Portu Salvu or of St Philip. The statue of Jesus the Redeemer returned to Senglea on the 9^th July 1944.

     After the war, the Church of St Philip was used as temporary parish church of Senglea. The Fraternity took the initiative to restart organising a votive procession with the statue of Jesus the Redeemer in June. As time went by, the procession became more and more popular. Many people from all over the island used to attend and the church of St Philip was becoming too small to accommodate such gatherings. Many people, many barefoot and some with babies had to wait on the church parvis during the sermon and than accompany the statue during the procession along the streets of Senglea.

    During the period 1944-1957, that is until the Parish Church was rebuilt, the Church of St Philip became the temporary Parish Church and all functions were carried out there. The Church of St Philip was originally built in 1596 but it was rebuilt to its present state in 1662. From then onwards, till the start of the Second World War, this church and the adjacent convent were run by the Order of St Philip, hence that is why this church is called so by the people of Senglea. The Jesuits took charge of the church in the beginning of 1958. It is a sizeable church having all the necessary amenities to be able to hold liturgical functions. Among the many precious paintings one finds in this church the most notable is the titular picture. It depicts Our Lady of Save Haven which was painted by Stefano Erardi.

     As pointed out this church was acting as temporary parish church and so the Chapter of the Collegiate was holding all liturgical functions there, including all processions. They were finding it a problem to put up all the Good Friday statues together in the church, even though the church is not very small. Another problem was the size of the three large statues, Jesus in the Garden, the Crucifixion and Our Lady of Sorrows. The statues could not pass through the church doors which are rather low. This problem was solved when the Oratory next to the church was rebuilt and they made the door large enough so that these statues could pass through. In the church the statues had to be put up huddled together in the side chapels. Jesus in the Garden, the scourging of Jesus and Jesus crowned with thorns used to be put up on the steps of the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Entombment used to be put up on the steps of the altar of the Crucifix (which at that time was service as a niche for the statue of Our Lady of Victories). In the space between this altar and the presbytery there used to be the statue of the Veronica. The statue of Our Lady of Sorrows used to be put up on the steps of the altar of St Philip and the statue of Jesus the Redeemer between the altar of Our Lady of Lourdes and the presbytery. The statue of the Crucifixion used to be put up beneath the balcony of the organ, just behind the main church door.

     On Good Friday in the afternoon, those people who used to help in these activities had a lot of work to do. As pointed out before, the three large statues could not pass through the door and so they had to be transported to the Oratory and prepared for the procession. So first they used to carry the statue of our Lady of Sorrows. It used to be lowered as low as possible, and carried sideways through the door. It was than put at the back of the Oratory. The statue of the Crucifixion had to be dismantled completely, taken bit by bit into the Oratory and reassembled again there. The statue of Jesus in the Garden had to be lowered as much as possible and again taken out sideways through the door. The remaining statues used to be brought up beneath the organ as near as possible to the front door.

     So for the procession the statues of Jesus in the Garden, the Crucifixion and the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows used to come out of the Oratory and the others through the Church’s side door. The statue of Jesus the Redeemer used to present a slight hitch too. Owing to the narrowness of the door the staffs on the side of the dais had to be taken off and put back once the statue is out on the parvis. The same used to happen with the statue of the Entombment.

     The route taken by the procession was in the opposite direction than that taken when the procession used to come out of the Basilica. First it used to go all the way through Two Gates Street, turn round at Mitrovich Square, up Bishop Mattei Street, through Pope Benedict XV Square and return to the church through Victory Street. When the procession returned back to St Peter the helpers had more work to do. The statues did not go back into the church but were taken into the Oratory. So all the statues, apart from the statue of Jesus the Redeemer, were dismantled piece by piece on the church’s parvis and taken into the Oratory and stored up to take as little space as possible. The Oratory in itself is not too large and there was also the statue of the Holy Trinity there, which in itself is already a rather large statue. The main reason that the statues could not be taken into the church was because in those pre-Vatican Council II days, the ceremony of Easter Saturday was carried out in the morning. In those days the statue of Jesus the Redeemer had its niece in the Oratory of the Crucifix and so it was transported back there after the procession. In the following days, the Cross used in the statue of the Crucifixion and the Entombment too used to be transported back to their niches at the Oratory. The remaining statues, daises and other equipment and decorations used to be stored in the vault beneath the church of St Philip.

     These arrangements remained till 1955. By 1956, even though the main church was not being used yet, all construction works in the church were ready, the floor levelled and concreted over. So an agreement was reached between the Chapter of the Collegiate and the Fraternity that the liturgical functions are carried out in the Church of St Philip and the procession to come out of the main, newly constructed church. This was done to save the helpers a lot of extra work. These helpers were already overworked in preparing the church to be ready for opening as soon as possible. In May 1956 the Fraternity asked permission to hold even the June procession with the statue of Jesus the Redeemer from the new church was permission was refused. The Chapter of the Collegiate did not wish that the church be used before its official blessing and consecration. The newly built Basilica was consecrated by Arch Bishop Michael Gonzi on Saturday 24^th August 1957 and opened for liturgical functions on the morrow, Sunday 25^th August 1957, when the crowned statue of Marija Bambina was returned back to its home.

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