This year's set of Christmas stamps will, for the first time, be part of a joint issue with the Philatelic and Numismatic Bureau of the Vatican.

The stamps, to be issued on Tuesday, feature details from one of Giuseppe Cali's paintings, The Nativity, found at St Andrew's parish church in Luqa.

The Vatican bureau will use the same imagery on its own set of stamps.

Another "first" for Malta is that the Vatican stamps have been printed by Printex Ltd of Qormi. The Malta stamps have face values of 8c/o0.19, 16c/o0.37 and 27c/o0.63.

Work on the naves in the parish church of St Andrew was close to completion towards the end of 1904.

The residents of Luqa felt, however, that the four original paintings would appear too small when compared to the new altars and decided to commission a new set of paintings.

The Nativity by Cali' (1846-1930) shows Baby Jesus in a manger, surrounded by Mary, Joseph, two countrywomen and a young girl.

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