The 140th anniversary of the manifestation of the Blessed Virgin to Karmni Grima falls on Thursday. An anniversary commemoration of the crowning of the altarpiece in 1935, which took place on Tuesday, included a pilgrimage led by Fr Joe Caruana, Mellieħa archpriest and rector of the national shire of Our Lady of Mellieħa. The Santa Ċeċilja choir took part.
On Thursday, Bishop Anton Teuma will lead a Pontifical Mass at 9am. The Stella Maris choir will take part. Mass and second vespers will be led by Mgr Trevor Sultana, Għarb archpriest, together with the collegiate chapter. The Għarb parish choir will take part. A second Pontifical Mass will be presided over by Bishop Emeritus George Frendo OP, at 7.30pm. The Chorus Urbanus will participate. An aux flambeaux procession with the image of Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu will follow. The Libsa ta’ Ġieħ hymn by St Ġorġ Preca will be sung.
In a book published last year, entitled Santa Marija ta’ Gentile, Gozo historian, Mgr Joseph Bezzina, traced the foundation of the tiny chapel known to locals as Santa Marija ta’ Gentile by the Calimera family of Gozo to around 1402.
The chapel was on several occasions in a state of dilapidation like similar chapels throughout Gozo. Early in the 17th century, it passed under the care of Pinu Gauci, who in 1619 donated the present Assumption altarpiece.
The chapel became known as Ta’ Pinu. Up to 1883, it was another wayside chapel with a few devotees from the neighbourhood. On June 22, of that year, Karmni Grima, a peasant spinster who had fields close to the chapel, received a mysterious call from the altarpiece: “Recite three Hail Marys in honour of the three days that my body rested in the tomb.” The secret was not broken until two-and-a-half years later, when a woman was miraculously cured after invoking the Virgin Mary of Ta’ Pinu.
By the beginning of 1887, several pilgrimages were organised to the chapel. The four walls of the chapel were soon covered with ex-votos.
The ecclesiastical authorities, very cautious at first, soon understood the message of the Virgin Mary. It was decided to raise a shrine adjoining the old chapel that was to be left intact. Innumerable difficulties had to be overcome before the foundation stone was laid on May 30, 1920.
The new shrine was consecrated on December 13, 1931. Pope St John-Paul II celebrated Mass at Ta’ Pinu on May 26, 1990, while Pope Francis led a special prayer session on April 2, 2022.