During the month of May, the Augustinian Family, together with the whole Church and many devotees of Saint Rita, celebrated her annual liturġical feast. Special celebrations were planned this year celebrating the 125th anniversary of the canonization of the much loved Saint by Pope Leo XIII in the year 1900.
The centenary celebrations in Valletta began with the First Thursday of St Rita last January and culminated in a National Pilgrimage in which the Augustinian family gathered together to celebrate the saint on the liturgical feast day being Thursday 22nd May. At St Augustine’s Parish Church, which has for so many years served as a national center of devotion to the Saint, several masses were celebrated in the morning, followed than by the midday prayer of the Supplika. During the 10.30am mass, the Prior Provincial Fr. Leslie Gatt placed a rose at the feet of Saint Rita, made specicifically by artist Mr Gabriel Farrugia as an expression of thanksgiving to the saint.
At 5.30pm Archbishop Mgr. Charles J. Scicluna together with the Augustinian Community presided over a Solemn Mass which was followed than by a pilgrimage with the devotional statue of the saint along the main streets of Valletta. During the pilgrimage, the statue of St. Rita was taken to the Monastery of the Augustinian Contemplative Sisters where a prayer was made by Mother Mikelina Mifsud OSA. Another stop was than made in front of St. John’s Co Cathedral where a prayer was made by Mother Rachael Frendo Provincial of the Augustinian Sisters Servants of Jesus and Mary. The Pilgrimage was animated with prayers by the members of the Augustinian Secular Fraternity.
In addition to the celebrations on the feast day, several other initiatives were also organized bringing people together in a beautiful experience of faith and prayer through the intercession of Saint Rita. Among these, it is worth mentioning the celebration for the elderly and the sick with the sacrament of the final rites which took place on Saturday, May 17th and was attended by many sick people who were brought from various nursing homes. This Celebration was presided over by Bishop Mgr George Frendo O.P..
The Feast of Saint Rita offers a wonderful space where many people came over with the burdens they carry in their lives, and asked for the Lord’s help through her intercession.
Photos: Archdiocese of Malta
