|
Home Church Count Roger Grotto Feasts Photos
Committee for the External Feasts of Corpus Domini
The Committee’s Formation
Since 1963, the committee of Comitato Festa Corpus Domini – Rabato organized our feasts of Corpus Domini and the Martyrdom of the Apostle St. Paul in Rabat. This committee used to organize both the internal and external celebrations. On a Sunday 29th September 1963 meeting presided by the then-Archparish Priest Mons. Pawlu Attard, the proposal to form a new committee responsible for the external celebrations only of both feasts was accepted unanimously, so that the Committee for the External Feasts of Corpus Domini and St. Paul was formed.
Apart from realizing the objectives for which it was formed, the Committee has strived to promote Rabat and the Pauline heritage as a single package since the beginning. The following Committees worked hard and enthusiastically to increase the popularity of our feasts and they offered their help in every activity organized in our Parish.
Yearly Contribution of the Committee
A solid financial basis is essential to organize both titular feasts of our Collegiate and Protoparish. The Committee always tried to collect enough money from various activities taking place almost every week. Apart from this door-to-door fund raising activities are organized during the year and feast weeks. The Committee is very grateful towards the many benefactors.
Maltese feasts are embellished with street decorations. Our fathers produced artistic and beautiful street decoration which needs constant maintenance. Our feasts are organized either during the Spring or Summer weeks which are synonymous with dew, scorching sun and some rainy days. These are not the optimal weather conditions for the exposition of our street decoration. Some decorations would not be exposed for a long time until restoration is completed. Every now and then new decorations would be designed and completed to decorate some barren looking streets.
This exercise requires quite an amount of people which are never lacking. This voluntary work can be dangerous such as when the dome, the façade and the belfry of the church need to be decorated, and the triumphal ark mounted in St. Paul’s Street. The decoration process starts some time after Easter with the installation of electric cables, and ends a couple of days before celebrations commence when pavaljuni and bandalori are hung.
Fireworks create that atmosphere which render Maltese feasts so unique. The Committee for the External Feasts of Corpus Domini and St. Paul endorses a group of people responsible for the fund raising and manufacturing of fireworks. A substantial number of people continuously work hard to provide the best fireworks’ show. The Committee strived to obtain the necessary permits to build St. Paul’s Fireworks Factory located in the outskirts of Rabat to provide the maximum level of safety. Many benefactors helped out to raise the funds necessary for the construction of this factory and, to purchase and install the apparatus.
The Committee is also responsible for the issuing of permits by the local authorities and the supervision during the festivities. These include the fireworks’ insurance, police permits and band marches’ supervision so that everything runs smoothly.
The Feast Guide: “Il-Festi Taghna”
The official feast guide of the Committee is the yearly publication of “Il-Festi Taghna” which includes historical and cultural articles on the Collegiate, celebrations and the band club. It includes also the feasts’ programmes and other information related with the activities and events held during the feasts of the previous year. The publication of “Il-Festi Taghna” reached the twenty-ninth issue where numerous Rabat shopping outlets contribute financially.
So everything began on that important meeting on Sunday 29th September 1963. Today we have a hard-working, united and varied committee including the participation of youths. The objectives remain the same notwithstanding the sacrifices which must be made in order to celebrate the feasts of the Eucharist and the Martyr of the Apostle and Patron Saint of Malta.
|
