Hajja Salesjana November December 2017

27 Maris in Sliema, working hard to see the Salesians settling in Sliema. In 1889, Fr, Vincent Manche’, Parish Priest of Stella Maris, Sliema, wrote to Don Rua the first successor of Don Bosco, asking him to send a few Salesians to Malta. Only ten years had passed since the death of Don Bosco. Alphonsus kept in close contact with Don Rua and finally the beginning of the long awaited moment had come. In 1898, the foundation stone of St. Patrick’s Home and School, the first Salesian house in Malta, was laid in Sliema. The house opened in 1903 and a church at St. Patrick’s, originally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was also built in 1905 for the boys and the public, thanks to the benefactor Mrs. Pullicino. In 1902, Don Rua, established two new provinces in the Salesian Congregation, namely the Province of Sicily and the Province of England. Don Rua could not be present for the opening of St. Patrick’s in 1903, but in 1906 for the first time Don Rua visited Malta and came again in 1908 as he was returning to Italy from Jerusalem. On this occasion he opened the Oratory, the second house in Sliema In May 1908, the Salesian Theatre was opened and a month later, on the 7th of June the Sliema Oratory welcomed its first boys. The Oratory Church was opened in 1909. The Salesian Brigade was formed in 1909 and was inaugurated within the Oratory in 1910. In Birkirkara, a branch of the Sliema Oratory was also opened in 1911, sustained by the benefactors, Mr. and Mrs. Casolani. The Salesian Brigade was also formed here in 1912 and briefly in Senglea in 1913. (to be continued...)