Chapter 14
Some important historical notes
The participation of the Chapter and the Clergy
As was his duty, the Chapter of the Collegiate used to celebrate with great pomp the festivities of the Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday including the Good Friday procession. During this procession the Chapter used to walk behind the bearer of the silver mane (il-mazzier). The Chapter used to wear their canonical garb. Up to some years ago during special functions which fell between the first Sunday of Lent and Easter Sunday they used to wear the kappamagna (robe worn by church dignitaries on solemn occasion) which was made of silk and stoat wool, instead of the muzzetta (cape worn by ecclesiastical dignitaries). Hence the kappamagna was worn for the last time each year during the procession of Good Friday.
The participation of the Clergy and of the Chapter, once Senglea Church was elevated to the state of Collegiate Insignis (a collegiate enjoying precedence over other churches) in 1786, was always a very diligent one for this procession. At times the number of the clergy taking part was so high that some of the priests acted as bearers of the Entombment. Hence the custom nowadays is that bearers of the Entombment put on the cassock and the surplice instead of the garb usually worn by the members of the Fraternity. This usage is also being followed in Good Friday processions of some other towns and villages. The altar boys also take part in the procession and they walk in front of the statue of the Entombment. As a sign that Senglea’s church has been elevated to Basilica in 1921 the umbrellun (a large umbrella carried in processions of churches which have been elevated to Basilicas) and the tintinablu (a bell on top of a pole carried during a procession).
As from 1955 the standard of the Sanctuary started to be carried out in the procession. This new custom began in 1954, which was a Marian Year and this standard is used by all Marian Sanctuaries.
When the procession is coming out of the Church
When the procession is on the way out of the church a programme of reflections on each station, short prayers and singing of hymns by the parish choir, aptly called Marija Bambina and the playing of funeral marches by the local band Queen’s Own is carried out. This little ceremony was introduced in the mid 70s and the scope was that the people watching the procession can also participate in prayers and singing. As from 1993, before the beginning of the procession, we have a small display by the Roman soldiers. They march from the Oratory to the parvis, accompanied by the beating of drums and the playing of the trumpets. There they fall in line and wait till their turn comes to walk with the statues.
The Queen’s Own Band
The band plays a different funeral march for every statue when it appears in the main door of the church. Once all the statues are out of the church and the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows has gone down from the parvis, the Band takes its place in front of the statue of the Crucifixion and accompanies the procession playing funeral marches as fit the occasion. The participation of the band in the procession is a very old custom. Before the band was set up local people used to present themselves to play the fife and drums. This custom was also followed elsewhere. Bit by bit the bands started to take over. As far as we know in Senglea the first band to have participated was the band La Sengle. For some time the Ecclesiastical Authorities prohibited bands from taking part but this prohibition was revoked in 1897. In
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the meantime a new band, La Vincitrice, was set up in Senglea and from 1898 it started to take part in the procession. In 1903 the name of the band was changed from La Vincitrice to Queen’s Own, a name it still carried today. Among its repertoires this band has a lot of beautiful funeral marches written by famous composers and by band masters who themselves directed the band.
When the procession was not held
After the Collegiate was granted the title of Basilica in 1921 some problems cropped up between the Chapter of the Collegiate and the Curia of the Archbishop. This problem consisted mainly in that the Chapter of the Collegiate of Senglea felt that it should have the preferential right over other Chapters which were set up before it. This was according to the degree issued when Senglea’s church was declared a Basilica. For some time it looked like the problem had been forgotten, especially during the war years and in the immediate post war period. Suddenly at the end of the 50s this problem cropped up again and for some time no processions or outward manifestations were held in Senglea. For this reason in 1960 neither the statues were put up in the church nor the Good Friday procession held as usual. Fortunately sense prevailed and this problem was soon overcome and by 1961 everything was back to normal.
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The black and the red tapestry
Prior to the Vatican Council II the Holy Week and especially Good Friday were considered as days of great mourning. For this reason the vestments used for the service was black. The windows of the church covered in thick dark cloths to create darkness; the pictures and crosses all covered with violet covers and the walls of the church covered in black tapestry. Senglea was no exception. New tapestry had to be made anew after the war. It was made up of huge pavilions which were hung up in from the arches in the nave from top of the pillars and allowed to fall down without any attachments up to about ten feet from the ground. These pavilions came down so low that the statues had to be put in front of them and they used to take up a lot of space in the church. These pavilions kept on being used until 1972 when following a visit during Holy Week by the Arch Bishop Michael Gonzi he said that to follow the instructions and spirit of the Vatican Council II we should no longer put up black tapestry. As from 1973 the red tapestry started to be put up and as time went by many other parishes followed suit.
Feast of the Via Sagra (Way of the Cross)
Like in all other churches there is great devotion in Senglea towards the Way of the Cross. This is a short walk with fourteen stoppages. At each station one meditates about different episodes of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The pictures of the Way of the Cross were all painted by the Senglea-born artist Franceco Zahra, except station ten which was lost during the war. The same as used to be done in other parishes, Senglea used to hold the solemn feast of the Way of the Cross. At each station a sermon used to be said and special hymns and music played as befitted the occasion. In Senglea this feast started to be celebrated roundabout 1848 and used to be held on the second Sunday of Lent. In St Philip Church it used to be held on Palm Sunday. The cross used for this service was made of ebony. It was all sculptured and decorated with silver angels and similar decorations. The frames of the fourteen stations are also made of silver and were paid for by various benefactors.
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The Crucifix of Mons. P. Cavendish
In 1957 the Fraternity of the Crucifix were donated an old wooded crucifix to be put up in the niche on the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows the Fraternity has in the Basilica. In olden days this crucifix was in a small chapel dedicated to St Francis de Paule in Corradino Whart. This crucifix fell into the hands of the ancestors of Mons Pietru Cavendish and he in turn donated it to the Fraternity.
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In 1958 the same Mons Cavendish donated the Chapter of the Collegiate a little piece of the Holy Cross enclosed in a relic of silver gilded in gold
Religions functions in other churches in Senglea
In days gone by, when it was possible, liturgical functions were carried out not only in the parish church and St Philip church like today, but also in the church of St Julians and in the chapel of the Ospizio Sant’Anna (St Anne old people’s home). Up to the war even the Oratory of Candlemass (Oratorju tal-Kandlora) was used for some religious functions too. Naturally these ceremonies in these churches and oratories were not carried out with the same pomp and solemnity like the functions at the Basilica.
In the church of St Philip, since no ceremony was carried out on Good Friday in the afternoon, they used to hold a three-hour long sermon. They had a special crucifix which flexible joints and could be dismantled. So at the end of the sermon the body of Christ was taken off the cross and the ceremony of the kissing and adoration of Christ was carried out again.
The Sepulchre – altar of repose (Sepulkru)
In all churches from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday one saw the altar of repose or the sepulchre. In Senglea it is put up in the Chapel of the Eucharist and has been so for a good number of years. For some years it was put up in the Oratory of the Crucifix and on some rare occasions on the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary.
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Saint Phillip’s Church |
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On these days the Chapel is decorated with all the silver ornaments, such as the frontal, candlesticks and vases with artificial flowers usually put up during the time of the feast. Before flower arrangements came into vogue the Sepulchre used to be decorated with narcissus (gizi) and begonia (buqari). These flowers used to be put in silver pots which were lent for this occasion by the various clubs of Senglea. The floor of the chapel used to be covered with many pots of white vetch (gulbiena). A red candle used to be put in these pots among the white vetch. The Sepulchre is still being put up at St Philip but before there was even one at St Julian’s church and at St Anne home for the aged. Up to the beginning of the war another sepulchre used to be put up in the oratory of the Candlemas. In the sepulchre at St Julian’s there were two angles, in an adoring position. They are still stored in that church. These angles were the original angles of the statue of Santu Cruc (The Holy Cross) until they were replaced by the angles there are now.
The painter Francesco Zahra
A famous artist will forever be in our thoughts especially when one enters the Oratory of the Crucifix. He is Vincenzo Francesco Zahra commonly known as Francesco Zahra. He was born in Senglea on the 15th December 1710 in a family of artists. It is suffice to say that his father, was the best know sculptor on stone in Malta in those days, and his brother Felic, fourteen years his junior, was renowned for his sculptor in wood and one can find a lot of his masterpieces all over the island.
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Apart from the many masterpieces already mentioned, in 1741, Francesco Zahra painted the two large paintings one finds on each side in Senglea’s choir. They sow two episodes from the life of Our Lady: the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple and the Annunciation by the angle Gabriel. The latter is considered as one of his best paintings. Other masterpieces can be found scattered in many churches of his days, among them in churches in Valletta, Rabat, Attard, Birkirkara, Cospicua, Zabbar, Qormi, Naxxar and Zebbug. Many critics hold that his best work is the one he painted on the ceiling of the Capitulars Hall (Awla Kapitulari) in the Cathedral of Mdina in 1755-1756.
Franceszo Zahra died on the 9th August 1773 in Valletta. After he got married he move to Valletta and he is buried in the Collegiate of St Paul Shipwreck.
The builder of statues Karlo Darmanin
A person who is continually mentioned in connection with the making of Good Friday statues is definitely Karlo Darmanin or as he was better known as Karlozzu. This famous artist was born in Senglea on the 30th August 1825 in a family full of artists. He was also known as a great teach on mache papier. It is nearly impossible to find a set of Good Friday statues which do not have some of them made by Darmanin. In Mosta six statues are his handiwork. For Cospicua he did Jesus in the Garden, the statues of the Crucifixion but not the Crucifix and the statues of Our Lady of Sorrows. For Senglea he built up the statue of the scourging of Jesus, Our Lady and Mary Magdalene for the Crucifixion.
Karlo Darmanin was also a renowned and looked up person for restoration works. The statue of Jesus the Redeemer was restored by Darmanin. He used to systematically introduce new ideas in his works of art: a little girl with the Veronica at Mosta; for Cospicua’s Jesus in the Garden he put on two angles and at Qormi he introduced the statue of Jesus and Judas. Our of Damanin’s hands we have many titular statues, angles, prophets and other statues which are used to decorate the streets. He was also a teacher of mache papier. Many hold that the statue of Christ the Saviour which he did for Lija’s church in 1864 when he still lived in Conception Street, Senglea, as his best work of art and one of the best statues in mache papier every made.
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Karlo Darmanin died on the 21st November 1909 in Santa Venera.