Holy Week celebrations at the Gozo cathedral
Holy Week celebrations at the Gozo cathedral will start tomorrow, Palm Sunday. The congregation will meet outside the Ċittadella Visitors Centre, where Bishop Anton Teuma will bless fronds of palms and branches of olives at 9.45am, followed by a procession to the cathedral marking the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Pontifical mass will start at 10am.
The Good Friday Passion procession at the cathedral will be held, tomorrow, Palm Sunday, at 6pm. Seven papier-mâché statues, dressed in velvet clothes, will be carried in procession, accompanied by youths and children dressed in period costumes. The Leone Band will take part.
On Maundy Thursday, Matins and Lauds start at 8.15am. At 9am, Mgr Teuma will lead the Mass of Holy Chrism during which he will consecrate and bless the Holy Oils of Chrism, Catechumens and the Sick.
At 6.30pm, Mgr Teuma will preside over the mass, In Coena Domini, commemorating the Last
Supper of Jesus. Following mass, the Blessed Sacrament will be transported to the Altar of Repose. The cathedral will remain open until 11pm, and between 8am and noon on Friday for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
The baroque Altar of Repose was inaugurated during the Holy Year in 1900. Taking up a whole side chapel, the Altar of Repose was designed by Canon Giuseppe Farrugia. Made by Spiridione Vella, the set-up has three large panels by Enrico Busuttil depicting the city of Jerusalem.
On Good Friday, the Adoration of the Cross will start at 3.30pm, while the Easter Vigil will start at 8pm with the blessing of fire at the cathedral square.
On Easter Sunday, the procession with the statue of the Risen Christ will start at 11am. Mgr Teuma will lead a Pontifical mass at 6pm.
Live transmission of the celebrations will be broadcast on Radju Katidral online TV, as well as on the Gozo Cathedral Facebook page and UTV.