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Superior General
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The first Superior General of the Society of Christian Doctrine M.U.S.E.U.M. Female Section.
At number 44 Paola Square another child was born for Family Cutajar. On the 13th of February 1893 Angelo and his wife where blessed with a child and they gave her the name of Giannina. She was the only girl in the family and had two siblings , one of them with the name of Carmelo who had been enrolled with the same society of Christian Doctrine, that time known as ‘The Society of Papidi’ followers of the Pope.
Fr. George Preca used to visit the branch (Qasam) of Paola quite often as it was one of the first branches opened. When visiting the members of Paola Fr. Preca never missed the opportunity to visit Family Cutajar which was known as one of the wealthiest families at the time.
Angelo, Giannina’s father was a tradesman of wine. They had a massive house with two warehouses which lead to the other side of St. Monica Street. Fr. George had a dream and was thinking of making it come true with the help of Giannina. Therefore, Fr. George talked this over with Carmelo, Giannina’s brother, and told him about this dream, that is that female members start teaching cathecism to the girls. Giannina was only sixteen years of age at the time, and when her brother Carmelo told her about Fr. George’s proposal , she accepted and obeyed realizing that this was the will of God shown to her by means of Fr. George Preca.
Giannina was a simple young lady who was eager to learn. When Fr. Preca got to know that Giannina accepted the proposal he decided to go and talk to her personally. In the year 1909 Giannina stated in front of the Church’s authority ‘I was invited by Fr. George Preca to start teaching Catechism and to dedicate my life for this kind of apostolate.’ Fr. Francis Attard, parish priest of Tarxien had a close relation with the parish of Paola, and he gave permission to Giannina to start on this mission, that is teaching cathecism.
On the tenth of January 1910 the first female branch of the Society of Christian Doctrine was opened. The Paola Parish Priest knew Giannina to be of a very good character and thus he did not find any objections to give her the permission to start teaching catechism. On the contrary he gave a good helping hand and cooperated with Giannina to help this society to flourish in Paola, especially now that from July of the same year Paola was no longer attached to Tarxien parish.
Fr. George Preca found it a bit difficult to frequent the female branches that where increasing gradually, contrary to the male ones who flourished quite quickly. This is because it was already out of the ordinary to have lay people teaching catechism as this was attributed only to clergy more so having females teaching catechism. It was very hard to accept the fact that a woman take this role.
In the meantime Fr. Preca felt the need to give good formation to Giannina so that she will later give this formation to her fellow members. Besides he did not want to interfere much in the female section. Giannina was sure that she will receive the necessary help from Fr. George Preca, so she committed herself fully for this apostolate. She took it so seriously that later on the inquisitive commission (Kummissjoni ta’ l-inkjesta ) attributed the founding of the female section to Giannina and not to Fr. Preca. Giannina was the local superior of Paola as she herself declared “I started the branch in Paola and was it’s superior. The first female members did not have anywhere to meet except the warehouse of her father Angelo. New members where joining the society : these are some of them – Carmela Rizzo , Gulia Rizzo, Carmela Darmanin , Lizzie German , Vincenza Borg, Rebekka Gibson, Guzeppa Cutajar, Guzeppa De Giovanni, Giannina Caruana, Rosaria Sofia , Carmela Galea and Pawlina Abela . The meeting place that is the garage of Angelo was very small and uncomfortable, they did not even have chairs to sit on , so Giannina and her colleagues used to carry stone, on which they put a plank of wood to serve them as benches.
Giannina now is a mature young lady, who can be trusted as she proved to be responsible and dedicated with anything that she was entrusted. She lived her vocation with love and dedication. Giannina used to gather young girls to teach them during the week and then to take them to confession once a week. Her pleasure was when every now and then Fr. George Preca used to visit them and give them a talk to help them grow spiritually.
It was also a pleasure for Giannina to teach young children and it seemed that even the children who attended for her classes enjoyed the lessons they received from Giannina as they looked forward to go to the catechism lessons. Some of those girls who are still alive today say that they where so glad that they used to go out from class singing in the streets of Paola this rhyme.
‘Come let’s go to the MUSEUM
We go with gladness,
because we learn a lot of prayers
We go to Giannina where we learn catechism’
Of course in Maltese it rhymes very well ; it goes like this
‘Ejjew ejjew ejjew,
immorru l-Museum
Il-Museum immorru bil-qalb,
ghax nitghallmu hafna talb
Immorru ghand Gannina – biex nitghallmu d-duttrina.’
The number of children attending catechism classes where increasing, thus the warehouse that Giannina was using became small , therefore Angelo, Giannina’s father had a mezzanin in St. Monica Street and he rent it to the female section for little money. Children where now being prepared for First Holy Communion, and when they made their First Holy Communion Giannina used to give a small party for the children and during the same week she invited the parents to celebrate this great event. This she also did at Christmas time.
Giannina’s devotion to the Holy Eucharist, made her ask the parish priest to give them permission to have the Holy Sacrament in one of the rooms of this place which later on it was turned into a chapel , the members used to make adoration day and night. This chapel is still in use till today.
Elvira twieldet fl-Isla fis-17 ta’ Diċembru 1904, fi Triq San Mikiel, nru. 7, minn Marietta nee' Soler u Andrea Ellul.
Nhar il-Ħadd 1 ta’ Ġunju 1958 miġburin fid-Dar Ċentrali tal-Blata l-Bajda, is-Soċi Bniet, taħt il-Presidenza tal W.R. Mons. Prof. Carmelo Bonnici, Assistent Ekkleżjastiku tas-Soċjeta’, ħatru bħala Superjura Ġenerali tas-Soċjeta’ kollha, Sezzjoni Femminili lil Elvira Ellul, ġa Primarja tal-K.B.O. Il-kariga tas-Superjura Ġenerali fis-Soċjeta’ hija ‘ad-vitam’ . Tmint ijiem wara 8 ta’ Ġunju fl-istess lokal saret iċ-Ċerimonja sabiħa tal-ħatra tagħha immexxija mill-Fundatur, Mons. Ġorġ Preca.
Din iċ-ċerimonja li, kif inhi preskritta fil-Ktieb ta’ l-Assenjatur, saret l-ewwel darba minn mindu twaqqfet is-Soċjeta’, kienet tassew kommoventi u impressjonanti. Iċ-Ċerimonja li fil-Kumpless tagħha hija unjoni, ġiet immexxija minn tliet soċi bniet mill-aktar anzjani.
Is-Superjura Ġenerali għamlet il-wegħda sollenni tagħha f’riġlejn il-Fundatur. Wara dan huwa libbisha l-midalja u taha l-bastun tad-direzzjoni u d-dixxiplina.
Qabel intemmet l-Unjoni, il-Fundatur għamel id-diskors ta’ l-okkażjoni u wara temmet iċ-Ċerimonja is-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida billi indirizzat lill-preżenti u appellat għat-talb.
Is-Superjura Ġenerali kellha laqgħa kordjali ma’ l-Arċisqof Ġużeppi Mercieca fil-Kurja Arċiveskovili, il-Furjana, nhar it-Tlieta 9 ta’ Lulju 1985. l-Arċisqof ikkonferma l-ħatra tagħha. Preżenti għal din il-laqgħa kien hemm ukoll Mons. Lawrence Gatt, l-Assistenta Superjura Ġenerali Vincenza Azzopardi u s-Superjura Ġannina Pace, Segretarja għal Għawdex.
L-Isqof t’Għawdex, Mons. Nikol Cauchi ġie infurmat bil-għażla tas-Superjura Ġenerali permezz tas-Superjura Ġannina Pace, Segretarja għal Għawdex u bagħtilha l-Barka tiegħu.
Is-Superjura Elvira Ellul li tat ħajjitha lis-Soċjeta’ sa minn ċkunitha, wara li għaddiet 29 sena bħala Primarja u 27 sena bħala Superjura Ġenerali, issa, fl-eta’ ta’ fuq 80 sena, talbet lill-Korp Buon Ordni biex jaċċetta r-riżenja tagħha . Elvira kienet l-ewwel Superjura Maġġura li spiċċat mill-kariga mhux għax mietet imma għax talbet hi. Elvira ħalqet l-istorja fis-Soċjeta’.Ħasset li kellha tieqaf hi u tgħaddi t-tmexija lil min hu iktar żagħżugħ u iktar enerġiku. Kienet xena sabiħa wisq meta s-Superjura Elvira tat il-paċi lis-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida Hilda Chircop li allura kellha 53 sena.
Nhar il-Ġimgħa 24 ta’ Lulju, 1987, ġriet l-aħbar ma’ Malta kollha li kienet mietet Elvira Ellul ex-Superjura Ġenerali tal-Museum. Din is-Superjura ħalliet b’wirt bosta xebbiet kuraġġużi li fuq l-eżempju tagħha iddedikaw ħajjithom bħala għall-imħabba u s-servizz ta’ Alla.
Hilda Chircop twieldet f’Santa Venera fit- 28 ta’ Ġunju 1932. Attendiet il-qasam ta’ Santa Venera u inkorporat Soċja fl-24 ta’ Ġunju, 1950. Qabel ma ntgħażlet Primarja, fit-13 ta’ Ġunju, 1958, hi okkupat il-kariga ta’ Servjenta Ġenerali fil-Ġunta Qagdat u ta’membra tal-Korp Buon Ordni. Hija kienet waħda mill-ħames membri li għaddew tliet xhur, minn Frar sa Mejju ta' 1985, fl-Awstralja fuq Sajda għall-barranin u bħala għajnuna għad-disa’ Soċi li hemm f’dak il-kontinent.
Nhar il-Ħadd 7 ta’ Lulju, fid-Dar Ġenerali l-Blata l-Bajda saret l-elezzjoni għat-tielet Superjura Ġenerali. Din kienet ġurnata li fiha dehret l-għaqda tal-membri kollha tas-Soċjeta’ f’Malta, Għawdex, l-Awstralja u l-Amerika.
F’Ġunju ntbagħtu l-iskedi tal-voti lill-għaxar membri fl-Awstralja u fl-Amerika. Huma vvutaw b’mod preferenzjali u l-voti tagħhom waslu fil-ħin biex setgħu jinfetħu fis-7 ta’ Lulju.
Madwar 60 membru Għawdxin għamlu sagrifiċċji kbar biex setgħu kienu preżenti fid-9.00 ta’ filgħodu għall-votazzjoni.
Għal din l-elezzjoni kien hemm organizzazzjoni perfetta maħsuba minn qabel mill-Korp tal-Buon Ordni u bil-għajnuna tas-Sezzjoni Maskili. Fit-8.00am infetah il-bieb tad-Dar Ċentrali u bdew deħlin il-membri. Fil-kuritur kien hemm il-membri tal-Korp Buon Ordni megħjuna minn xi Superjuri biex jagħtu l-iskeda tal-voti lill-membri tal-Oqsma rispettivi tagħhom.
Fid-9.15am il-membri kollha nġabru fl-Auditorium fejn tkantaw l-innijiet tal-bidu u l-‘Veni Creator’. Wara Mons. Lawrence Gatt għamel diskors. L-Assistent Superjur Ġenerali J. Formosa ta xi direttivi u mbagħad saret il-votazzjoni, li ntemmet fl-10.00a.m.
Mons.Gatt qara r-riżultat ta’ l-ewwel votazzjoni u ħabbar lil Ħilda Chircop Primarja, ġiet eletta Superjura Ġenerali. Kien hemm ċapċip mill-preżenti u b’hekk huma fehmu japprovaw din l-għażla. L-Assistenta Superjura Ġenerali Vincenza Azzopardi ppreżentat lis-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida lill-membri, u hawn kulħadd qam bilwieqfa u għamlilha inkin ta’ sottomissjoni. L-Assistent Ekkleżjastiku u s-Superjur Ġenerali ferħulha għal dil-kariga ġdida tagħha.
Is-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida kellmet fil-qosor lis-soċi u l-laqgħa ntemmet bis-Sancta Trinitas u l-Innu tal-Fundatur.
Nhar il-Ħadd 14 ta’ Lulju 1985, fid-Dar Ċentrali, il-Blata l-Bajda, saret iċ-Ċerimonja tal-konferma tal-Ħatra ta’ Hilda Chircop, ċerimonja li saret f’Quddiesa ċċelebrata minn Mons. Lawrence Gatt, megħjun mid-djaknu Rev. Dr. Charles Scicluna L.L.D.
Għal din iċ-Ċerimonja attendew mill-magħżulin il-fuq, inklużi xi membri Għawdxin. Kien hemm ukoll is-Superjur Ġenerali u l-Korp Buon Ordni.
Phyllis Falzon twieldet fil 21 ta’ Diċembru ta’ l-1941 f’Birkirkara minn familja b’qalb nobbli u b’valuri insara li għenuha tgħix u tikber fl-imħabba t’Alla u tal-proxxmu. Dan kollu kien qiegħed iħejji t-triq għal din iż-żagħzuha li b’interess u mħabba kbira attentdiet għat-tagħlim tal-katekiżmu.
Wara li għamlet il-preċett u l-Griżma ta’ l-isqof Phyllis baqgħet tattendi għall-klassijiet ta’ formazzjoni fejn trawmet fil-virtu’ u għarfet is-sejħa li għamlila il-Muelj għall-ħajja museumina.
Meta kellha sbatax il-sena iġfieri fl-1958, flimkien ma’ seba' aspiranti oħra, irċiviet il-kandidatura. Hija baqgħet tikber u tgħożż it-tagħlim u l-ġid li kienet tirċievi mis-soċjetà. Fis-sena 1962, propju xahar qabel miet il-Fundatur Dun Ġorġ Preca; meta kellha għoxrin sena ġiet inkorporata mas-Soċjeta’ u kienet taqdi l-vokazzjoni tagħha fil-qasam ta’ Birkirkara.
Phyllis imbagħad bdiet tati servizz fuq livell ċentrali, kienet membru fil-Ġunta tal-Kultura, illum Kummissjoni Formazzjoni flimkien ma’ sitt membri oħra li kienu jduru l-oqsma u jieħdu kura individwali tal-gruppi tat-tfajliet tal-formazzjoni.
Għaddiet ukoll ħafna snin tgħin fil Ġunta tal-Qagħdat flimkien mas-Superjura Kekina Briffa, illum il-Kummissjoni għat-tagħlim ta’ l-adulti.
Phyllis kienet membra fil-Korp Bonordni (illum il-Kunsill Eżekuttiv Ġenerali) sa minn kmieni.
Fis-sena 1985 ma l-elezzjoni tat-tielet Superjura Ġenerali Hilda Chircop, Phyllis Falzon ġiet nominata bħala il-primarja tas-Soċjeta’ fejn damet taqdi dan ir-rwol għall-erbatax-il sena.
Nhar il-Ħadd 16 ta’ Mejju 1999 kienet ġurnata memorabbli għas-Sezzjoni Femminili tas-Soċjeta’ tagħna meta fl-awditorju tad-dar Ġenerali fil-Blata l-Bajda saret quddiesa solenni li matulha saret iċ-ċerimonja tal-ħatra tas-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida Phyllis Falzon. Mexxa ċ-ċelebrazzjoni l-Assistent Ekkleżjastiku tas-Soċjetà, Mons. Lawrence Gatt, u miegħu kkonċelebraw seba’ saċerdoti oħra. Għal din l-okkażżjoni kien hemm attendenza kbira ffurmata mis-soċi femminili, superjuri tas-sezzjoni maskili, familjari tas-Superjura Falzon u rappreżentanti ta’ diversi għaqdiet u movimenti tad-djoċesi. Ħa sehem il-kor tal-Qasam ta’ Ħaż-Żabbar.
Wara l-omelija riflessiva ta’ Mons.Gatt, saret iċ-ċerimonja propja tal-ħatra fejn is-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida wegħdet li bil-grazzja ta’ Alla tħabrek biex timxi skond ir-Regola u kif jitolbu d-doveri tagħha. Imbagħad Mons. Gatt ta l-bastun tal-ħatra lis-Superjura Ġenerali l-ġdida waqt li libbisha l-Insinji tal-kariga u għaddiehla l-ktieb tar-Regola. Imbagħad hu ppreżenta lis-Superjura Falzon bħala s-Superjura Ġenerali lill-miġemgħa li approvat b’applawż twil. Wara saret il-qima tax-xbiha tal-Papa bħala sinjal ta’ fedelta’ tas-Soċjetà lejn il-Kap tal-Knisja.
Fi tmiem il-quddiesa Mons. Gatt qara messaġġ tal-okkażżjoni li wasal mingħand is-Segretarju ta’ l-Istat tal-Vatikan, Kardinal Sodano. Kulħadd ċapċap bil-qalb għal din is-sorpriża sabiħa.
Wara diskorsi ta’ ringrazzjament, l-Innu tal-Fundatur ġab fi tmiemha okkażjoni memorabbli u li matulha nħass qawwi l-ispirtu tal-Fundatur tagħna Dun Ġorġ.
Fis-sena 2004 wara l-Kapitlu Ġenerali is-Superjura Falzon reġgħet ġiet ikkonfermata Superjura Ġenerali għall-ħames snin oħra.
Society of Christian Doctrine - Female Section