After the success of last year’s inaugural edition, the Paulus Foundation is presenting the programme of activities which will form part of this year’s festival.  Launched with the intention of promoting the Maltese Pauline cult and sacred music, this year’s activities will be celebrating the canonisation of Pope John Paul II and the inauguration of the newly established Paulus Foundation, the organization which is behind this festival.

The events will be kicking off on Saturday 8th February, when a series of guided tours around a number of historically important sites in Rabat will be taking place.  These tours will be taking visitors around the Franciscan Minors convent and its adjoining church, the notable Santo Spirito hospital which houses the National Archives of Malta, the Wignacourt Museum and St Paul’s Collegiate church and the adjacent St Paul’s grotto.

These tours will be followed by the opening of an art exhibition at the Wignacourt Museum on Saturday 8th February at 19.30 by the Hon. Ian Borg, parliamentary secretary for EU Funds and the 2017 EU presidency.

This will be followed by a grand concert of sacred music on Sunday 9th February starting at 19.30 at St Paul’s Collegiate Church.  This concert, which has now established itself in the Maltese cultural calendar, will be seeing the participation of the Paulus choir and orchestra as they breathe life into the musical archives of the Mdina Cathedral and the Wignacourt Museum.  Together with compositions from these two museums, the concert will also feature a number of works of current Maltese composers.  The musical direction of the concert is in the hands of Paul Portelli.

The Agape Festival is organised through the support of APS Bank, Green MT, the Fr Martin Caruana OP Foundation and the collaboration of the collegiate chapter of St Paul’s church in Rabat.