Dun Ġorġ Preca will receive sainthood on Sunday 3rd June 2007 in
Rome, after Cardinals gathered in a Consortium at the Vatican expressed that they were in favour of the canonizations of five Blesseds, including the late priest.
The Consortium was called by Pope Benedict XVI after he approved the second miracle for the cause of Dun Ġorġ Preca’s sainthood earlier this month. The Consortium of Cardinals met on Friday at 1100CET. The cause of each beatified person was presented and subsequently Cardinals voted to affirm if they agreed that the five Blesseds are to be made saints.
At around noon all churches in
Malta rang their bells for 15 minutes, as ordered by Archbishop Emeritus Mgr. Joseph Mercieca. In turn, this evening the facades of all churches will be lit.
At around noon all churches in
Malta rang their bells for 15 minutes, as ordered by Archbishop Emeritus Mgr. Joseph Mercieca. In turn, this evening the facades of all churches will be lit.
The Government and Opposition expressed their joy at the news and emphasised the important role that the priest had for the Catholic Church in the Maltese islands.
The four other beatified persons who will be made saints are Simone of Lipnica, a presbyter of the Order of the Smaller Friars, Carlo of Sanit Andrew, a priest of the Congregation of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Antonio of Saint Anne, a presbyter of the Order of the Smaller Friars Alcantarini as well as founder of the Monastery of Recolhimento da Luz and Maria Eugenia of Jesus, founder of the Nun’s Institute for the Assumption of the Beatified Virgin Mary.
In January members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, attributed the miraculous healing of an infant to the priest.
In the recent weeks the Congregation prepared a document regarding the miracle and presented it to Pope Benedict XVI for approval.
The miracle attributed to Dun Ġorġ Preca occurred around two months after he was declared Blessed, during Pope John Paul II’s visit to
Malta in May 2001. The case involved an infant who developed liver complications mere days after birth. The child was examined at St. Luke’s Hospital in
Malta and eventually transferred to
London’s
King
College
Hospital, for further treatment.
On the 14th of July doctors decided that the child would only survive if given a liver transplant. Although a date for the transplant was established, it was later discovered that the donor was not a compatible match.
At this point the child’s family turned to God through prayer, with the intercession of Dun Ġorġ Preca. A glove used during the exhumation of the priest a few months earlier was also placed upon the infant’s body.
On the 20th of July, the child’s liver started to function normally and within another four days doctors decided that the baby no longer required a liver transplant. Today the child is a healthy five-year-old.
In July 2002, one year after the child’s miraculous healing, the Ecclesiastical Tribunal under the leadership of
Mons. Arthur Said Pullicino, commenced the Diocesan Process to study the case.
The Tribunal heard 38 Maltese witnesses including medical experts Dr. Alfred Caruana Galizia and Dr. Simon Attard Montalto. The Tribunal also heard Profs. Dr. Anil Dhawan from King’s
College
Hospital, who confirmed that there was no scientific explanation for the sudden improvement in the child’s health.
The Diocesan Process came to an end on the 19th June 2004, with
Mons. Joseph Mecieca signing the case documents during a mass celebrated ay
St. John’s Co-Cathedral in
Valletta.
The documents were sent to
Rome, where the Congregation for the Causes of Saints agreed that the Maltese process analyzing the case was a valid one on 17th December 2004.
Doctors and Theologists of the Congregation also discussed the case in 2006, both submitting positive verdicts .
The cause for Dun Gorg's beatification was initiated in 1975. He was declared venerable in June 2000 and Blessed in May 2001. In another unexplainable miracle, Charles Zammit Endrich's detached retina healed after he placed a relic of Dun Ġorġ under his pillow. The case took place over 40 years ago on the 3rd February 1964.
See also MaltaMedia's special feature on Pope John Paul II's visit to Malta.
