On Saturday 28 October 2006, the Franciscan Friars of Ghajnsielem, Gozo, celebrate the 100th anniversary of the official opening and blessing of the church of Saint Anthony of Padova, overlooking Mgarr Harbour.

On 28 October 1906 the church of Saint Anthony was officially inaugurated and blessed in the presence of Fr. Anton Maria Cesal OFM, who as Custos of the Maltese Franciscans, had worked tirelessly for the establishment of the Franciscan Friars Minor on the island of Gozo.

The first Franciscans, including Fr. Cesal, had arrived in Gozo on 22 November 1899. At first they stayed in a rented house in an area some metres away from the present church, known as “Ta Gliex”. Fr. Anton Maria Cesal was one of the first friars to live there. After just three years the Franciscans acquired a plot of land, given to them by a Canon of St. Paul the Shipwreck Church in Valletta, where they built the church and the first section of the present friary of Saint Anthony. The plan of the church was designed by Fr. Guzepp Diacono, and the expenses were all paid by a benefactor from Nadur, Guzeppi Sultana. He never lived to see the church completed, but it was built in record time.

The church is a small gem set in a picturesque setting of fields and carob trees. Unfortunately it is not so visible from the Harbour as it used to be since buildings have cropped up all around it. It is to be fervently hoped that the savage ruining of the Gozitan countryside by would-be developers will not ruin also the lovely panorama of Comino which one gets from the parvis of this church.

To mark the 100th anniversary the Franciscan friars are organizing a special Mass by the Vicar General of the Gozo diocese and a procession with the statue of Saint Anthony of Padova.