SANTA MARIJA ~ Innu "Lil Marija Assunta" (VIDEO 3)

Hymn ~ "To Mary Assumption" ~
Solemn Exit of the Procession from the Cathedral with the devoted and artistic statue of Santa Maria.
The Leone band accompanies the solemn procession with the playing of religious marches and Marian hymns throughout the streets of Victoria.

The feast of Santa Marija has been the principal celebration of Gozo for at least five hundred years. A procession was organised since 1726, but the statue of Santa Marija had added great joy to the festivities. On the 15th of August, it is paraded shoulder-high along the streets of Rabat in a procession led by the Bishop of Gozo. An astonishingly prodigal display of aerial fireworks accompanies its exit from the church and its entry. The excitement reaches its climax as Santa Marija is raised by the multitude up the steps to be returned to the Cathedral.

The Confraternity of the Assumption, founded on 29 March 1957, was responsible for the acquisition of the silver plinth upon which the statue stands. It was designed by Samuel Bugeja in 1962 and sculpted in Rome, also by the firm of Francesco Rosa. The statues in the four corners are four doctors of the western Church: St Ambrose, St Gregory the Great, St Augustine, and St Bonaventure. The four bas-reliefs portray the Coronation of Mary, the Visitation of Elizabeth, the Immaculate Conception, and the Annunciation of Our Lord. The coat-of-arms under the bas-reliefs are of Bishop Giuseppe Pace, Pope John XXIII, Pope Pius IX, and Pope Pius XII.
It stands on a chestnut pedestal executed in 1966 by Pascal Attard with a bronze bas-relief by Samuel Bugeja. The statues in its four corners are of the four heroines of the Old Testament: Deborah, Jael, Judith, and Esther, while the four bas-reliefs portray the Dormition of Mary, the Visit of the magi, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and the Wedding at Cana. It weighs over 500 Kg (1102 lbs or half a ton) and is carried shoulder-high by some 24-28 strong bearers. The Cathedral church is situated in the Medieval *Cittadella Fortifications, a natural hilltop (2nd highest in Gozo).

More info about this UNESCO World Heritage
*Cittadella in another video documentary I will do sometime next month.