Xaghra Parish » Gallery » 2013 » LENT AND HOLY WEEK 2013 » 23 MAR 2013 - CRUCIFIXUS - LENTEN CONCERT
The night's concert 'Crucifixus' was assigned to the Choir Schola Cantorum Jubilate to commemorate the arrival, a century ago, of the papier mache crucifix at the Xaghra Parish Church. This particular crucifix is a large scale iconography of the Cristo Morto, with a loose body nailed on the cross. It is the work of a renowned sculptor Luigi Guacci from Lecce, Italy.
Xaghra Parish, from its very existence, had a special veneration for the Crucifix. In fact, in the old church, a wooden crucifix generated a lot of devotion and a congregation of local devotees was set up. The Christ in Agony Crucifix in Baroque style was placed in a niche above one of the side altars. In December 1739, Gozitan historian Gian Piet Francesco Agius de Soldanis donated a silver reliquary bearing a wooden chip of the Holy Cross to Xaghra Parish. When the old church was pulled down and the present one opened for the public (1855), an identical niche for the crucifix was included.
However, every religious commemoration has a rather profound significance. Its principal aim tends to help the congregation stregthen the faithwhich goes beyond a statue or an artistic presentation. The choir, by singing motets and sacred pieces which exalt the crucified, will instigate meditation on the mystery of salvation.
Along the centuries, the crucifix or even the cross on its own, still keeps distinguishing the Roman Catholics from the other religions. It has also inspired many artists and composers, these being Catholics or not.
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