On Saturday 11th April, the community of the Seminary received the news of the death of Fr Anton Azzopardi SJ, who had served for nine years as rector of the Sacred Heart Seminary. On Monday 11th May, a month after the death of Fr Azzopardi, Bishop Mgr Mario Grech led the celebration of Mass for the repose of the soul of Fr Azzopardi. Various priests who had pursued their studies at the Seminary between the years 1969 and 1978 joined in the concelebration. Provincial Fr Patrick Magro and Fr John Scicluna, who was the last Jesuit Rector who served at the Gozo Seminary (1995-1997), were also present.
Bishop Mgr Mario Grech thanked God for the Company of Jesus. Its members had, for many years, served the Gozo Seminary with love and dedication. During the homily, the bishop invited the priests, especially those who help in the formation of seminarians, to pray God to bestow on them the gift of the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit will enlighten them in their continuous discernment of the candidates for priesthood. At the same time, the Spirit will help them educate the seminarians in their charge to be able to read God’s will for them and to be able, as priests, to follow God’s will in the situations they find themselves in. The Bishop ended his homily by stating that Fr Anton Azzopardi SJ was surely enlightened by this Spirit, especially in the reforms which he succeeded in introducing at the Gozo Seminary during his term as Rector.
Fr Anton Azzopardi SJ was born at Hamrun on 14th January 1925. He joined the Jesuits on the 1st October 1945 and was ordained priest on 29th July 1956. He made his solemn profession on 2nd February 1963. He served as rector at St Aloysius College and then, in 1969, he became rector of the Gozo Seminary. He succeeded Fr Joseph Mercieca, who later became Archbishop of Malta. Fr Azzopardi was the first in a new line of Jesuits to act as rector at the Seminary. The last Jesuit who had served as rector before Fr Azzopardi was Fr Emmanuele Grima SJ, who was rector of the Seminary up to 1909. The Gozo Seminary had Jesuit rectors for 28 years, from 1969 (with Fr Azzopardi) to 1997 (with Fr John Scicluna). After ending his term as rector at the Gozo Seminary, Fr Anton Azzopardi was again made rector of St Aloysius College, a position which he held up to 1985. Fr Azzopardi died at Naxxar on 11th April 2015.
