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Dun Alfred, as he is popularly know with the
Maltese, was a saintly priest whose wonderful human
and spiritual qualities drew towards him thousands
of Christians. He was mainly sought as a confessor,
as a counsellor. Many were sure that he had the
charisma of healing and of reading the future and
knowing the unknown.
Fr. Gatt was born on the 12th January 1873, in
Valletta, Gatt was known for an ordinary good life
for over forty years. But nothing special was noted
in him and even through his first 20 years as a
priest, except his sense of duty, his exactness in
everything and his efforts to learn also from his
own weaknesses.
Ordained priest in 1900, he served humbly in St.
Paul's Collegiate Church and from 1909, as a
director to the cloistered nuns of St. Ursola's
monastery in Valletta. All changed for Fr. Gatt
when, in 1921, his superiors posted him to the
church of St. Nicholas (known as Holy Souls) in
Merchants Street, Valletta.
It seemed a quiet life of a confessor who was to
pass all day hearing confessions. But his charming
gentleness drew to him all those who were in
distress. He seemed to be able to penetrate the mind
of penitents. Wonderful facts were attributed to
him. Many claim that they recovered from illnesses
through his intercession. But he himself attributed
everything to the supernatural power of the Holy
Face of the Suffering Christ.
Although Gatt suffered of an inflammation in the
heart tissue, he was not allowed to rest during the
last 16 years of his life. People thronged to him
all day long. He retired only when seriously ill
just two weeks before his death. He passed away in a
saintly death on Good Friday (26th March, 1937).
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