by Ms. Elaine Gerada Gatt, Assistant Head – Secondary Section
The Archbishop’s Seminary school celebrated the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, who happens to be the school’s Patron Saint, last Monday, the 25th of January. His Grace Monsignor Charles J. Scicluna, the Archbishop of Malta, visited the school and celebrated mass at the Vocations Centre at the Seminary. The school’s Students’ Council was present in the chapel representing the school community. Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, the rest of the students were able to watch the celebration online since this was being streamed live in every classroom. During his homily, the Archbishop reflected upon St Paul’s conversion as a time of crises for St Paul himself, showing how Our Lord used the crises itself to enact the change within St Paul, the apostle. In the context of the current pandemic our Archbishop prayed for compassion and gentleness, stating that the “difficult moments that we are going through, both nationally and globally, should not toughen our hearts making us acrimonious but instead such times should make us more compassionate towards each other.” Mass ended with the blessing of a new painting featuring Our Lady. The painting named ‘Mara tal-Ħobż’ was commissioned to the local artist Nathanael Theuma.
After mass, the Archbishop took part in a celebration in honour of the late Professor Oliver Friggieri, who was also an ex-student of the Archbishop’s Seminary. Carefully chosen excerpts from Professor Friggieri’s works were read and sung during this celebration in his honour. The event which was initiated by a speech by the Students’ Council President, Jacques Xuereb, also featured speeches by the school Headmaster Rev. Can. Mark Ellul and H.G. the Archbishop. Mrs Friggieri, wife of the late Professor Friggieri and their daughter were present for the ceremony. Guests were later taken upstairs to the school library which now bears his name. A memorial, in honour of the late Professor Friggieri was also inaugurated within the same library. Professor Friggieri’s family donated a considerable amount of books to the school library. The school remains grateful for their generous contribution.