San Francesco Catholic Church in Tripoli was once again the venue of the traditonal Ecumenical Candelight Service organized every year by the Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli on Friday 7th December between 4.00 and 6.30pm.
The Ecumenical Service gathers together the different Christian Denominations present in Tripoli for a celebration of carol singing and Scriptural Readings in preparation for the Christmas Festivities.
Besides the Franciscan Friars of Tripoli, also present were the Christian Leaders of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church, the Union Church and two lay leaders from the Evangelical and Pakistani Christian groupings.
The Service was introduced by Bishop Giovanni Martinelli OFM, Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli, who welcomed all those present and introduced the celebration with a prayer. Different Choirs proceeded to sing two Christmas songs each: the French Catholic African Choir, the Indian Catholic Choir, the Anglican Church Choir, the Coptic Orthodox Church Choir, the Union Church Choir and the African Catholic Choir. The first part concluded with the singing of the Gospel hymn ‘Benedictus’ by a Filipino Choir led by Fr. Allan Arcebuche OFM, Guardian of the Franciscan Fraternity. During the second part songs were sung by the Evangelical Choir, the Pakistani Church Choir and the Catholic Filipino Choir. The Gospel hymn of Mary, ‘Magnificat’, was then sung by the different Sisters of different Congregations working in the Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli.
The highlight of the Ecumenical Service was the lighting of candles as the Church lights were turned off and all present joined in singing the Christmas Hymn, ‘Silent Night’. As the hymn came to an end Fr. Marcello Ghirlando OFM read the nativity Gospel taken from Saint Luke’s narrative. This was followed by Saint Francis’ Prayer for Peace in Arabic led by Fr. Magdy Helmy OFM.
Before the final praying together of the Our Father the congregation was also greeted by the Greek-Orthodox Priest and two Libyan officials present for the Service. The Candlelight Service ended with a hymn of praise, ‘To you oh Lord, be praise and Glory’, sung in Italian, English, Arabic, Tagalog, French, Maltese and Spanish.
Fides News Agency reported this event in its news bullettin of the 7th December:
AFRICA/LIBYA – Christmas carols in different languages: a tradition of the Church in LibyaTripoli (Agenzia Fides) – “It is a joy to be singing together waiting for Christmas” says to Fides Agency His Exc. Mgr. Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli, where this afternoon the small Catholic community will celebrate the feast of the “Candelight “. “This is a Christmas song event according to the different traditions. There are several choirs, in particular in African and Philippines, all of whom will sing Christmas in their own language,” explains Mgr. Martinelli. “It is a tried and tested tradition of our community. It is called Candelight because it ends with switching off the lights and the lighting up of a candle by each participant. Then all together they sing Silent Night.” “The community is composed mainly of foreign workers, even if families have so far been few, but we hope that with time they too can return to Libya,” concluded Mgr.Martinelli. (L.M.)
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