Our Founder Joseph De Piro declared Our Lady, under the title of her Assumption into Heaven, to be the ‘Principal Patron’ of our Society. In his Almanac he regularly mentioned that this feast was celebrated with great solemnity by the small Society.
Until now, we have not had an image of Mary that is truly. One of the last projects Fr Tony Sciberras and I worked on before his sudden departure to the Heavenly Banquet, was to commission a painting of the Assumption of Mary that can become our Paulist Missionary image.
For this purpose, we engaged the accomplished Maltese artist, Frederick Gingell. Frederick has known the Paulist Missionaries through the Birkirara Oratory and has already given us the portrait of Joseph De Piro as well as four other painting depicting De Piro in four different ministries. Frederick has kindly accepted to journey with us, and give us the image of the Assumption we were requesting.
The journey started with a meeting between Frederick, Fr Tony and myself where we tried to introduce Frederick to our spirituality of the Assumption. After the publication of the Formation Directory in 1993, the Assumption of Mary was seen by us as in image of the missionary. In the Incarnation Jesus became human so that humanity could be divinised and share the life of God. Through the Incarnation Jesus saved the whole human person, not only the soul, and hence, as missionaries we reach out to the whole human person. In each of our regions we have reached out to the people we have been ministering to. We have acted as social workers, provided medicine, education, food, technical education and many other ways of helping the whole person to reach God. In the Assumption we see Mary taken body and soul into Heaven. The Assumption represents this missionary journey as well as the final moment of being united with God.
Frederick Gingell has delivered an oil painting on canvas, 91.4x61cm. It depicts Mary at the moment of her being taken up to Heaven. According to the Patristic tradition, the dormition of Mary happened in Jerusalem. On the third day, her resting place was found empty. The place were her body lay was covered with a field of flowers. This field of flowers is the harvest where Paulist Missionaries minister. The field at Mary’s feet is full of flowers in full bloom, ready to be picked. Mary is holding in her hands a national flower of each country where Paulist Missionaries have worked in or have a presence: the Australian Golden Wattle, the Canadian Bunchberry, the Cuban Jamine, the Ethiopian Calla Lily, the Italian Lily, the Maltese Widnet il-Bahar, the Pakistani Jasmine, the Peruvian Kantuta, the Filippino Sampaguita and the Vietnamese Lotus. Mary is taking these flowers with her into Heaven.
The top left of the painting is dark, but Mary is looking to the light on the right side; she is being taken up by the Light, Jesus her Son. The flowing clothes are meant to give the impression that she is about to leave earth. The gown and the flowing mantles represent the five continents. The gown is the traditional attire of an Ethiopian lady representing Africa. The multi-coloured headdress is a Peruvian woven cloth representing the Americas. Beneath the headdress is part of the Australian flag, representing Oceania. The striped red, yellow and black cloak is a traditional Filipino skirt material, representing Asia. On the right-hand side is a blue mantle with stars, representing Europe.
We thank Frederick for his commitment and generosity. He has shared with us that he has never produced such a symbolic work of art. He has spent a lot of time to research and reflect upon this subject for this painting to take shape. Frederick has generously donated his talent, his art and his time. Thank you Frederick.
Fr Mario Zammit mssp