As President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca arrives for the Pontifical High Mass at the Basilica of St Dominic in Valletta this morning, she will be leading the congregation in the climax of celebrations in this parish’s triple anniversary year.
The history of Valletta is closely intertwined with the history of the Dominicans in Valletta. One cannot speak about the 450th anniversary of the laying of our capital city’s foundation stone without also speaking about the very active part played throughout these 450 years by the community of Friars Preachers who were given the block of land, marked no. 8 on the planning map, by Grand Master Pietro del Monte, and from which they have carried out their mission ever since.
The three anniversaries being celebrated in the principal mother parish of Our Lady of Safe Haven (Portus Salutis) and St Dominic are the 450th anniversary of the foundation of Valletta, the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the Order of Friars Preachers and the 200th anniversary since the church was elevated to the canonical status of basilica (minor), the first church to be given this title in the Maltese islands.
The foundation stone of the first Dominican church in Valletta was laid on April 19, 1571. This was just a month after the Knights of St John had moved their entire administration from Vittoriosa to Valletta and started using the church of Our Lady of Victories as their conventual church on March 18, 1571.
Following this, the prior of the Vittoriosa convent, Luqa-born Fr Damian Taliana, left for Rome, accompanied by his sub-prior Fr Fiteni, where on July 2, 1571, the Dominican Pope, St Pius V, issued a motu proprio entitled Ex Debito Pastoralis Officii, which established the Dominican church as the “...principal parish church and mother (church) of all of the new city...”.
This decision was not accepted by the canons of the Mdina Cathedral, especially by the controversial vicar general, Don Anton Bartolo, so the Dominicans recurred again to the Pope, this time Gregory XIII, to have the erection of their church as the “...principal parish church... ” confirmed once more.
In the meantime, the Dominican community continued building its first church on the design of the well known engineer Girolamo Cassar. Construction dragged on till 1597 when it was completed with a timber ceiling and roof tiles (tegole). Cassar and his wife Mattea were buried in the aisle of the church.
Unfortunately, the church had to be closed down in 1780 after it suffered severe damage over the years. Worse was to happen. The dire economic situation and the burial of victims of the pestilence in 1676 meant that the Valletta Dominicans could not start building a new church. It was only on November 25, 1804, that the foundation stone of the present church was laid. The architect was Antonio Cachia, the Chief Government Architect under the Knights, the French and the British.
On March 25, 1816, the church was elevated to the canonical status of basilica minor, the first in Malta and the eighth in the world to be given this title
After an enforced stop in the building works between May 1813 and March 1814 due to the plague that had hit Malta, and particularly Valletta, the new church was opened on May 15, 1815, by Bishop Ferdinando Mattei. The church was eventually consecrated by Archbishop Pietro Pace on October 15, 1889.
On March 25, 1816, the principal parish church of Our Lady of Safe Haven and St Dominic was elevated to the canonical status of basilica minor by means of the papal bull Explorata Proximorum Dilectio granted by the Benedictine Pope Pius VII. This special status, the first in Malta and the eighth in the world to be given this title, was granted in recognition of the fact that the Dominicans remained in Valeltta administering the sacraments to the people, not heeding the danger to their own life during the plague of 1813-1814. Such was the fate of the vice-parish priest Fr Nikol Trapani, another chapter in the long association between Valletta and the Dominicans was completed.
This long association began when the great Domincan Pope St Pius V gave 30,000 silver florins to help Grand Master Jean de Valette start building his new city for which he also assigned the pontificial military engineer Francesco Lapparelli.
The Dominicans served their parishoners literally come rain or shine. In 1661 the parish priest had to shelter from a sudden heavy douwpour under the side door of the Grand Master’s Palace in Archbishop Street while returning from the Viaticum.
Upon hearing of this, Grand Master Rafael Cottoner sent his pages to carry the Dominican with the Sacrament back to the church in his sedan chair. Grand Master Cottoner then donated the sedan chair in perptuity and it is still kept in the Oratory of the Blessed Sacrament adjoining the convent.
A Dominican Brother, Fra Dumink Falzon, was executed by firing on September 6, 1798, on grounds of conspiracy against the French government. Due to this suspicion hanging over them, the Valletta Dominicans were jailed in Fort St Elmo between January 16 and September 30, 1799, when they were confined to house arrest until the end of the French occupation.
The French occupation also led to the suspension of the teaching activity of the Valletta Dominicans. The Dominican charism of preaching has from the beginning been based on sound intellectual and academic preparation. Malta was no exception and as soon as the Valletta convent was formally approved as a Dominican house in 1612 it also began to offer teaching both to Dominican students and diocesan priests. In this they were supported by the knights who wanted to make Malta an international centre of learning.
Dominican academics from France and Italy were brought over to lecture in Valletta. This track record enabled the Valletta-born Dominican Fr Rosario Agius to have the Valletta college elevated to the status of a studium generale in 1729 with the right to confer degrees in philosophy and theology, including the doctorate in theology. In 1865 the studium was transferred to the Rabat convent.
The association between the Friars Preachers and Valletta has led to no less than 82 men born in the city to join the Order. Pride of place go to Bishop Angelo Portelli, the vicar general who calmed down the June 7, 1919, uprising to prevent more blood from being shed, and Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona, also a son of the parish.
Also hailing from Valletta are Fr Eugene Cachia (now deseased), who was president of the Second Instance of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, Fr Paul Gatt who was prior provincial, and Fr Vince Micallef, who served as provincial in Brazil.
Other notable academics apart from Rosario Agius include Seraphim Zarb, a scripture scholar who taught at the Angelicum in Rome and then served as dean of the University of Malta’s Faculty of Theology, and Fr Charles Tabone, a senior lecturer in sociology at the University.
As the government continues to prepare Valletta to put on its best look for 2018 when it will be the European Captial of Culture, the basilica of Our Lady of Safe Haven and St Dominic is also undergoing a restoration and regeneration. Thanks to financial help from the civil authorities the magnificent facade is being restored to its pristine glory.
The inside pendentives of the main dome depicting the Dominican saints Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, Raymond of Penafort and Antoninus Pierozzi of Florence have been restored.
Also, parishoners contributed to have a new ombrellone, the insignia of the basilica, due to the decay of the previous one.
Alfred Grixti is secretary of the Porto Salvo and St Dominic Valletta Foundation.