Gozo – 160 years a diocese
Today, Monday, September 16, is the 160th anniversary of the Gozo diocese. On September 16, 1864, Blessed Pope Pius IX granted the requests and wishes of the priests and people of Gozo and established Gozo and Comino as a separate diocese.
To mark the event, Bishop Anton Teuma will lead a concelebrated mass at the Gozo Cathedral, Victoria, with the Cathedral chapter at 6.30pm. At 7.20pm, he will intone the Te Deum in thanksgiving. In line with a long-standing tradition, the bells of all churches in Gozo will ring in unison with the cathedral bells. Today also marks the fourth anniversary of Mgr Teuma’s solemn entry into the cathedral when he was appointed Gozo bishop.
The process of establishing Gozo as a separate diocese had begun on October 30, 1798, after the Gozitans, with British and Portuguese help, had expelled the French and become masters of their island. Archpriest Saverio Cassar, who represented the bishop in Gozo and had led the insurrection, addressed a petition to King Ferdinand III of Sicily to grant his royal approval for the launching of the process for the establishment of a bishopric on Gozo. For 66 years, the island’s priests and people united their efforts towards this end. The Gozitans requested a separate diocese for several reasons, foremost among them, and from which all the others stem, was the isolation of Gozo from Malta. Anyone who has lived in Gozo understands perfectly the perils, the loss of time, and the costs in travelling from Gozo to Malta and vice versa. The situation was worse in the 19th century.
In 1855, Don Pietro Pace, a priest from Victoria resident in Rome, and Sir Adrian Dingli, the Colonial Crown Advocate whose family hailed from Gozo, decided to take matters into their hands and slowly but surely they succeeded to overcome all difficulties that cropped up from several quarters. Through the Bull Singulari Amore (With Remarkable Love), Pope Pius IX established Gozo and Comino as a separate diocese from Malta with their own bishop.
One of the great advantages of this establishment was the opening of a seminary, including a secondary school, in 1866. This institution proved itself a great blessing for Gozo, and is still going strong. During the past 160 years, the Gozo diocese has been led by nine bishops.