Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/556862
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 AUGUST 2015 12 News Celebrating Santa Rotunda to apply for basilica status THE Mosta Rotunda church could become the ninth church in Malta to be conferred the title of basilica. During yesterday morning's mass celebrating the feast of Santa Marija, parish priest Albert Buhagiar asked for Archbishop Charles Scicluna's permission to formally apply for a minor basilica status. The archbishop immediately agreed to the request and now it is up to the Vatican to decide whether the Rotunda church should be accorded basilica privi- leges by the pope. The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady was consecrated in 1871 and is commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta. It has the fourth largest unsup- ported dome in the world, and is the third largest in Euope. There are two kinds of basilicas – the world's four major, or papal, basilicas are St John Lateran, St Peter, St Paul Outside the Walls, and St Mary Major, all in Rome. Minor, or lesser, basilicas are significant churches in Rome and elsewhere in the world that meet certain criteria and are given special ecclesiastical privileges. Minor basilicas are traditionally named because of their antiquity, dignity, historical value, architectural and artistic worth, and significance as centres of wor- ship. A basilica must "stand out as a centre of active and pastoral liturgy," according to the 1989 Vatican docu- ment Domus ecclesiae. Malta already boasts three minor basilicas – the ba- silicas of St Dominic and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, both in Valletta, and the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin of Ta' Pinu in Gozo. There are also six collegiate basilicas. These are the Nativity of Mary church in Xaghra, St George's Ba- silica in Victoria, Our Lady of Victory parish church in Senglea, St Peter and St Paul church in Nadur, the Basilica of the Visitation in Gharb and St Helen's Ba- silica in Birkirkara. The privileges attached to the status of minor basil- ica, conferred by papal brief, include a certain prece- dence before other churches, the right of a baldachin, which is a ceremonial canopy, and the bell (tintinnab- ulum), which are carried side by side in procession on state occasions, and the cappa magna, which is worn by the canons or secular members of the col- legiate chapter when assisting at the Divine Office. The Mosta rotunda is set to become Malta's ninth basilica. Above: People of all ages took to the streets of Mosta to celebrate the feast of Santa Marija