On Monday 28 August 2006 Frs. George Aquilina and Anthony Chircop returned from a three day visit to the town of Noto in Sicily, bringing with them the relics of Fra Domenico da Malta (Mifsud), supposedly hailing from the village of Gharghur, who died a holy death at Noto, in Sicily in 1601, after having lived there during the last decades of the 16th century.
The relics were originally kept in the Franciscan church of Santa Maria di Gesu’. When this friary was closed they were transported to the house of the Ursoline Sisters of Noto. The bishop of Noto encouraged the Maltese Francsicans to request that these relics be brought back to Malta. After asking for permission from the ecclesiastical authorities in Malta, Fr. George Aquilina, as historian of the Maltese Franciscan Province, crossed over to Sicily to be handed with the small wooden casket containing the mortal remains of the Franciscan friar, and sealed with the seal of the bishop of Noto. Domenico Mifsud is considered to be a Blessed, but only within the confines of the Order of Friars Minor.
He has never been declared officially a Blessed by the Church, and therefore cannot receive any official cult. For the moment his relics have been placed in the chapel of the Franciscan friary of Santa Marija ta’ Gesu’ (ta’ Giezu) in Valletta. Fr. George Aquilina is working to provide a historical background to the life of this previously unkown Maltese Francsican “Blessed”.
