Thanking heaven

Twenty-three of the finest ex-voto paintings which adorn the walls of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy in Qrendi have been exhibited at the Sacristy Vault of the Valletta Waterfront over the past days. They will remain on show until tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

A number of the ex-voto paintings donated to the sanctuary at a time when it was renowned throughout the island as a centre for prayer and devotion had been commissioned by Bailiff Johann Wolfgang von Guttenberg, a Knight of the Order of St John.

Most of the paintings were created in thanks for being saved from the raging sea and depict storms and shipwrecks.

There are other paintings recording cures from illnesses and other graces granted.

One of the oldest ex-voto is a painting showing the galleys of the Order of St John caught in a storm before 1625. Beneath the icon of the Madonna And Child are souls in purgatory.

Another painting, by Vincenzo Gonzi, narrates an incident on February 24, 1831 when Pietro Formosa and Giuseppe Farrugia were saved after they were stranded on the island of Filfla for a whole week without food or water after a fierce tempest. Two launches and a fishing vessel were sent to save them.