SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES – 56
Ewgenju Borg: the beatification process
of this Senglean has just started
A valuable instrument
There are lots of things to be said about Ewgenju. In him I see
principally the following three qualities: a) he was an instrument in the hands
of Dun Gorg Preca; b) he was a great leader; c) his humbleness and simplicity
attracted people to him.
Sometimes a person has a great ideal and he would be ready even to
sacrifice his life to reach his goal. But sometimes unless one finds somebody
else to encourage him, maybe this ideal would remain by the side. These thoughts
come to my mind when I think about Ewgenju whom I without any difficulty can
call him a great personality. Ewgenju himself did not consider himself as
somebody special.
Ewgenju Borg became an important and providential instrument in the hands
of Dun Gorg Preca the founder of the Society of Christian Doctrine (MUSEUM). As
a layman and a dedicated Christian Ewgenju loved and followed Dun Gorg blindly.
At the same time it was obvious the Ewgenju was the only person capable to
leading the newly born society. Dun Gorg saw in him these good qualities which
could make of Ewgenju a leader of men.
Mr Ewgen
The young people in those far off days of 1906 were on their own. They
had nobody to lead them on. They lived a wayward life. The seminarian Gorg Preca
noticed this group of youngsters and desired to do something to give them a
scope in life. The youngsters of Hamrun used to meet on the church’s parvis or
else in a field and pass the time there telling jokes to each other. They had to
find ways on how to pass their spare time. Among the group there were some
youths who were better off than the others and used to dress more elegantly. One
of them, both by the way he dressed and his manners was unofficially their
leader. He was Ewgenju Borg. They used to follow him quiet a lot. One day these
youngsters decided to open a club and they made Ewgenju the club’s president.
They were in such awe of him that they even called him Mr Ewgen. He was just 20
then.
Ewgenju was a good joker
In those days cigarettes were very cheap and Ewgenju was a heavy smoker.
Gorg Preca, still a seminarian, kept on brooding on what he can do to help these
youngsters. He soon noted Eugenju’s qualities as a leader. The group hardly
showed any interest in religious teaching and their attendance in church was
very scarce, so to gain their confidence Gorg Preca used to take them to Sa
Maison for a swim or to play football with a ball made of pieces of clothes.
Preca was really surprised when he learned that Ewgenju had managed to persuade
his friends to so some sacrifices. An example was when he asked them to stop
smoking for a week and they followed his example. Their admiration for Ewgenju
was such that they did everything he said to be in his good books. His word was
an order for them.
There were days when they used to decide to spend a day not speaking and
so they used to meet as usual and instead use sign language. After Ewgenju had
some meetings with the seminarian Gorg Preca he persuaded his friends to go for
confession and to start living a better life as Christians.
Gorg Preca was ordained as a priest on
On country walks or on top of the belfry
Ewgenju was still not versed enough in religion. Dun Gorg Preca on the
other hand had planned to use him so that he can reach his friends. Many times
Ewgenju used to tell his friend that while he was on the church’s belfry Dun
Gorg used to teak him how to pray the rosary and recite the act of contrition.
One day during one of these meetings on the church’s parvis Dun Gorg took
a particularly good look at the youngsters and then turned to Ewgenju and told
him to go with him for a country walk on Sunday. In a familiar way Dun Gorg
called Ewgenju Gege and this the name by which he started to be known in the new
society which was soon to be set up.
Dun Gorg and Gege agreed to take with them on this walk the Bible, some
bread, an onion, some cheese and a bottle of wine. They walked through the
fields in the area of St Venera near the railway station. They entered a field,
sat down underneath a carob tree in the shade and rested.
Dun Gorg, in his
own loving and inimitable way started to explain some
passages of the Bible . Gege and the
latter said that Dun Gorg used to tell him that the first chapter of the gospel
of St John was rather difficult.
An
instrument in the hands of Dun Gorg. A great leader who attracted people with
his simplicity
We saw how the
young Ewgenju was attracted and besotted by Dun Gorg and one can say that the
attractions were mutual. We have already seen how these two personalities
complemented each other. They served also to improve the spiritual life of
whoever came in close contact with them. This aspect of their lives was
accentuated by the church when it proposed the beatification of both Dun Gorg
and Ewgenju Borg.
When early in
1907 Dun Gorg started to make the plans to set up the Society of Christian
Doctrine (MUSEUM) by grouping the youths of Hamrun, Ewgenju was in the front
line. Some meetings were held at the Nuzzo church in Hamrun and Gege (as he was
know known) realised that it was no longer possible for Dun Gorg to keep on
holding their meetings on the parvis of St Gejtan’s in Hamrun. Gege did not wish
to lose Dun Gorg, so he had a plan that he and his friends will build a room
where they can all meet. By this time Dun Gorg had other ideas. He hired a small
house at
At first Dun
Gorg was not of the opinion that he appoint any leader but the youngsters
automatically started to consider Gege as the leader of the group. Everyone used
to look him up when in difficulty and in turn, Gege used to confine very much in
Dun Gorg. It was very common that after each meeting when all returned home, Dun
Gorg and Gege used to stay behind and discuss the society’s prospects and
programme.
Dun Gorg and
Gege were as one in thick and thin. They accepted as parts of God’s will all the
false accusations and insults thrown at them. When they were faced with some
personal insults in their faces they just moved on. When Gege saw that some
insults were persistent he used to go and talk to the person/s concerned. Not to
pick up a fight or defend himself and Dun Gorg but to explain that the society
being set up by Dun Gorg only wanted to spread out peace and love to all.
Gege at times
told some episodes he went through. ‘Everybody was insulting us. Many said we
looked like prisoners with out shaved hair. Others called us crazy because we
did not smoke or wear ties’.
Gege was
also threatened with being excommunicated during the time of Bishop Pietru Pace
because he was mistaken for somebody else with same name. Gege was a man who was
submissive to all authorities and kept on spreading the word of God and being a
service to others.
It is definitely
a great honour for the city of