San Gorg Preca is finally with us. Not that he never was but now that we have the actual proclamation by Pope Benedict infront of an audience of umbrellas we can formally announce that Sanctus Sanctus Est. I hate to be wet blanket and protract the amount of rain that has been falling on this particular parade but I am still unimpressed.
Mostly the lack of impression and similar sentiments has nowt to do with the Venerable G and more to do with the nation’s handling of the matter. I read on di-ve how the crowd present at the Vatican started chanting Gorgi Gorgi as the Pope announced the Maltese priest’s sainthood. It could be my upbringing, it could be the effect of intense exposure to too many festas butI could not help cybically wondering whether we were more happy and spiritually fulfilled for the person made saint and example or whether we were more intent on having that extra excuse for a xalata, that extra statue to parade and that extra feast to celebrate. My doubts were confirmed in another mini-article in di-ve’s specials were it was reported that questions are already being asked as to which parish and church will be granted the honour of having George as their nominal saint.
And as I read di-ve’s special about the well preserved garments of Dun G which stated that“His daily clergy clothes, his hats and his religious ceremonial clothes, were neatly hanged as ‘in waiting to be worn again’.” i could not help thinking that we are a nation on the verge of another cult breakdown. The fine lines between religiosity and fanaticism are destined to be blurred futher as the people will bark for more. They will need the festa, the procession, the fireworks, the band club and who knows… a massive spanking new church to boot. We will be lost in fanatic drivel about bones and relics and saintly laces and the message (if any) left by Dun Gorg will be obfuscated by all this populistic nonsense.
No. Do not let them be. No. They are no longer meant to be the mass of stupid medieval uneducated folk who required ceremonia and glass stained windows as a form of general education. No. They do not have a right to be molly-cuddled by the relic peddlars last heard of in Chaucer’s tales. No. The farce should be stopped before it is too late. Before they confuse reality with all auras of sanctity and the island is lost to a surreal parody of religion that has long stopped existing elsewehere.
Dun Gorg Help Us.
