A chapel built on the site where, according to legend, St Paul preached to the Maltese, will no longer be hosting Masses regularly, because of a shortage of priests.

The last Saturday Mass at St Paul's Shipwreck chapel in San Pawl tat-Tarġa will be held this Saturday.

Canon Michael Agius, the chapel’s rector, told the Times of Malta that the Jesuits’ Superior, Fr Paul Zammit, informed him that his priests were no longer in a position to celebrate Mass.

Although Loyola House, in nearby Naxxar, houses the largest Jesuit community in Malta with some 24 priests, it is an ageing one, with the youngest priest being in his 60s and many in their 80s and 90s. 

The chapel will only be open on Fridays for Eucharistic adoration and for weddings and private Mass.

Built between 1696 and 1699, the chapel replaced another that was destroyed in the beginning of that century. The chapel hosts one of the most impressive paintings of renowned 18th century painter Giuseppe D’Arena, depicting St Paul preaching to the Maltese after his shipwreck on the island.

The chapel was a favourite subject of Neapolitan artist Girolamo Gianni, who made a number of paintings of the area in 1885 when the only two other buildings in sight were Torri Gauci and the Captain’s Tower (where Grand Master Jean de Valette used to sometimes stay) and when the view of St Paul’s Bay consisted only of gently sloping hills.