On the feast day of St Lawrence, Lino Bugeja tells how Vittoriosa adopted its patron saint and how the church’s treasures put Malta firmly within Europe’s artistic mainstream.

Tonight, as the sky is pierced by brilliant showers of shooting stars dubbed by astronomers since time immemorial as ‘the tears of St Lawrence’, the vibrant traditional celebrations in honour of this early martyr of the church, in the ancient walled city of Vittoriosa or Birgu, ‘il borgo del castello’, will reach its climax with unrivalled passion and devotion.

A 15th-century precious silver processional cross that adorns the high altar on the liturgical feast.

This ancient historic parish was the first in the Maltese islands to adopt a patron saint from the Latin rite, namely St Lawrence, and its liturgical feast is worthy of the Città Vittoriosa, which in the Middle Ages gave us a visible European ethos in a rare enclave of European sophistication.

After the expulsion of the Arabs in 1091 and the gradual re-Christianisation of the Maltese islands, the Byzantine Rite belonging to the Greek Church was manifestly widespread in Malta and Gozo as evidenced from the proliferation of parishes and chapels dedicated to Byzantine saints and the Holy Family.

Secure documents reveal that only the Castrum Maris (Fort St Angelo) was an enclave of European culture, customs, traditions and festivities. That unique European ethos was passed on to successive generations in Vittoriosa and survived until the present days.

These typical Spanish traditions enhanced by local fervour and devotion are manifestly portrayed in the Holy Week commemoration and the present processional statue of St Lawrence dressed in historic sacred vestments which include a white linen alb donated to the parish by the last Inquisitor of Malta, Mgr Giulio Carpegna (1793-98).

This cult statue is placed on an ornate silver pedestal designed by a famous artist from Cospicua, Abram Gatt (1863-1944), that represents the flamboyant decorations of that eclectic period. The exquisite walnut and ebony platform is evidence enough of the excellence of the Vittoriosa craftsmen of the early 20th century inheriting centuries of galley building.

Malta became part of the Spanish Kingdom after the mighty Spanish Aragonese fleet defeated the French Anjevins in a classic naval battle in the Grand Harbour in 1283 and the long reign of Aragonese domination began, with the Castrum Maris becoming their headquarters.

As great patrons of the arts, the Knights enriched the church with priceless treasures brought from Rhodes, some of which are still exhibited on August 10

Subsequently, most of the ‘castellans’, the keepers of the castle, at the Castrum Maris came from Aragon, the birthplace of St Lawrence. As a charismatic saint whose cult was already established in many European cities with thousands of churches, the De Nava and De Guevara families, often castellans of the Castrum Maris, immediately initiated the cult and established the parish of St Lawrence in the 13th century.

The Grand Harbour is an ever-lasting monument to our European identity when, in the late Middle Ages, Fort St Angelo was a secure enclave of European culture, propped up by the ethnic admixture of merchants and mariners from the Republic of Genoa steeped in Laurentine devotions with its famous St Lawrence Cathedral, Venice and Spanish Catalunya as well as the soldiers and their families residing in the borgo.

The interior of St Lawrence parish church, the former conventual church of the Order, rebuilt to the design of Vittoriosa-born Lorenzo Gafà, father of Maltese baroque.

At that time, like all other sea ports in the Mediterranean, Vittoriosa, which was the only Maltese settlement facing the sea, had its churches, taverns, courtesans and brothels. Documentary evidence reveals the ethnic minorities of Vittoriosa at that time, namely Maltese, Greeks and Jews, who have all left their imprint on the city.

So deep and intensive was the Vittoriosa elders’ fascination with the sea, where they also had their famous boat-building yard, that their parish of St Lawrence was not built in the centre of the historic piazza but along the Marina Grande facing Porto delle Galere (now Dockyard Creek). Since those far-off days, the parish has been known as San Lorenzo-a-Mare.

In the early 16th century, the Knights of St John, the epitome of European nobility, safely and securely ensconced in the walled city of Vittoriosa, protected by the impregnable Fort St Angelo, made San Lorenzo-a-Mare their conventual church.

As great patrons of the arts, the knights enriched the church with priceless treasures brought from Rhodes, some of which are still exhibited on August 10.

They also commissioned a famous crucifix from Polidoro da Caravaggio and the unique Choral Books of Grand Master l’Isle Adam, presently exhibited at St John’s Cathedral in Valletta.

Undoubtedly, the church’s treasures put Malta firmly within Europe’s artistic mainstream and, consequently, its European identity was confirmed.

The processional statue of St Lawrence dressed in the Spanish tradition with real rich sacred vestments and an alb donated by the last Inquisitor, Giulio Carpegna. The statue stands on an ornate silver pedestal.

After the Easter vigil of 1532, the conventual church was gutted by fire and it had to be rebuilt probably in the Gothic style and divided into three aisles. It was described by Mgr Duzina, the Papal Legate in 1575 as “ampia et magnifica” (ample and magnificent) with a painting of St Lawrence upon the high altar which was “magna et pulchra ac ornamenta” (great, beautiful and decorative). This precious painting was destroyed in the German blitz of January 1941 but a copy of it hangs in the Aula Magna adjoining the church.

The festivities in honour of St Lawrence in the past have been important landmarks in these islands. Historian and antiquarian Count G.A. Ciantar, in his Malta Illustrata, describes the eve of the feast of St Lawrence of 1752 as follows: “The 19 stores newly constructed by Grand Master Pinto were illuminated with innumerable big lanterns beautifully arranged. There was also a harmonious concert of various musical instruments which practically went on all night. All the nobility, as well as citizens of both sexes, were there mostly on small boats along that stretch of water that laps the shore, to enjoy the illumination and, at the same time, to greet the friends and other persons who had assembled there.

“And it was a lovely night, with all the boats on the island meeting at one place on a night lit up as if it were daylight.”

The Gate of Aragon, also known as Advanced Gate, the first of three gates at the entrance of this walled city, was normally locked up for the night for safety reasons by the knights’ guards.

During the St Lawrence festivities, the gate was left open to allow the thousands of visitors to join in the celebrations.

For today’s feast, the mighty bastions and lofty cavaliers be-flagged with the Spanish colours and the colourful flags of the Knights’ different languages, offer a magnificent spectacle as one strolls along the processional route past the beautifully rebuilt church and convent of the Dominicans and historic Inquisitors’ Palace.

Today, the church displays its ancient artistic treasures brought from Rhodes in 1530.

Mattia Preti’s The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, a chiaro scuro masterpiece on the high altar. It is Preti’s largest canvas .

These include ecclesiastical works of art such as a 15th-century processional silver cross of exceptional workmanship which currently serves as the main altar cross on the feast of St Lawrence.

The focal point in the church celebrations is the huge painting at the back of the high altar, The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, the largest canvas by Mattia Preti, the most distinguished painter of the Neapolitan baroque.

This painting was commissioned by Canon Antonio Testaferrata in 1689 and enjoys the distinction of being Preti’s favourite masterpiece. There are echoes of Caravaggio in the subtle use of chiaro scuro and in the dramatic vitality of the macabre cruel death on a grid iron.

Another outstanding painting which has recently come to the fore and attracting much attention is The Flight into Egypt in the oldest known chapel dedicated to St Joseph. Because of its Bolognese idiom, it is now being attributed to Domenico Zampieri, known as Il Domenichino (1581-1611). Had Vittoriosa no other claim to artistic fame, the rich collection of objets d’art would establish it as an exceptional city of substance.

On this festive occasion, Città Vittoriosa invites all citizens and visitors to come and explore the medieval labyrinth of the ancient Collachio and discover the essentially European ethos of the city as they marvel at the artistic patrimony of San Lorenzo-a-Mare, steeped in history and traditions.