FIRST - Bishop of Gozo - Qala, Gozo, Malta
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 36° 02.059 E 014° 19.263
33S E 438833 N 3987967
This statue is dedicated to Mons. Mikiel F. Buttigieg, the first Bishop of the Maltese island of Gozo.
Waymark Code: WMYDD3
Location: Malta
Date Posted: 06/01/2018
Views: 1
Malta has a long Christian legacy and its Archdiocese is claimed to be an apostolic see because, according to Acts of the Apostles, St Paul was shipwrecked on "Melita", now widely taken to be Malta. Catholicism is the official religion in Malta.
Gozo is an island of the Maltese archipelago although much smaller with a relatively small population.
Until 1864 Gozo was part of the diocese of Malta and depended on a bishop who resided in Mdina, the old capital city of that island. Only rarely did he venture to visit his flock on Gozo. When he did he invariably coincided it with the feast of St George, in April. He would call his flock into the parish of Rabat and, in its church say Mass and administer the sacrament of Confirmation.
As the islands population grew they campaigned to have their own bishop for the island of Gozo. In the 19th Century Malta was a British Colony and The British Colonial Office gave its consent to the establishment of the new Gozo diocese in October 1860. The Vatican, three years later.
In 1863, the parish priest of St George’s, Mgr Mikiel Frangisk Buttigieg, who hailed from Qala but was a spiritual son of the parish of Nadur, was elected auxiliary bishop of Malta with the instruction to continue residing in Gozo. At the time, apart from being the parish priest of Rabat, Mgr Buttigieg was also the archpriest of the collegiate church within the precincts of the Gran Castello. Pope Pius IX established the new diocese of Gozo within the year. It comprised the islands of Gozo and tiny Comino and bishop Buttigieg became the first diocesan bishop.
The Statue
The statue depicts the bishop in his clerical robes. A memorial stone stands next to the statue.
MONS. MIKIEL F.
BUTTIGIEG
1793 -1866
Wild il-Qala
I-Ewwel Isqof
t'Ghawdex
B'Tifkira
tal-150 Sena tad-
Djocesi ta' Ghawdex
(1864 - 2014)
English Translation
MONS. MIKIEL F.
BUTTIGIEG
1793 -1866
Son of Qala
First Bishop
Of Gozo
Commemorating
The 150th Year
of the Diocese
of Gozo
(1864 - 2014)
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