Saint gets a papier mâché makeover

A communication breakdown between the Church and a restorer has led to a complete makeover of St Gregory’s statue in Sliema, with its benefactors complaining they do not recognise the chubbier, younger saint. John Seychell Navarro, the great-grandson of the couple who commissioned the original 1950s wooden statue for the Sliema parish church, is very disappointed. Instead of being restored, the original statue by Italian sculptor Angelo Righetti was covered in papier mâché and transformed into a completely different, larger and younger-looking statue, he explained. So when the Sliema church celebrates the feast of St Gregory this weekend, the plaque with the names of his great-grandparents – Alfred and Mary Vella – will be affixed to a statue they never even saw. Artist Charles Vella, who carried out the papier mâché works in 2010, stressed that he was commissioned to reinterpret the statue, not restore it. “There seems to have been a lack of communication along the way… I was following instructions – to renovate and reinterpret the statue, which I did,” Fr Vella said, adding that he was guided by feast enthusiasts after being told the church had all the necessary permits in hand...