John Carmel Navarro (The Sunday Times, September 16) wrote well about the celebrations held in Senglea on September 8. He also wrote well about the Great Siege in 1565 and the Second World War.

However, I am afraid that when he mentioned the uprising of the farmers in the French Blockade he got the date wrong. The day was not September 2, but September 4, the feast day of Our Lady of Consolation. During the celebration an uprising took place at Saqqajja Square.

The Maltese farmers ran away to the nearby St.Mark’s church to take shelter from the bullets of the French.The French fired at the main door of St Mark’s and the hit the main altar, but no one was hurt. It is a pity the the door was changed in the 1930s. On that occasion the Maltese were alone.

In September 1429 the Saracens arrived on our shores from Tunis with an army of 18,000 men under the command of Kaid Ridevan. At first they attacked Mdina for three days, and many Maltese consequently lost their lives.

It is said that on that ocasion St Paul appeared with a dagger riding on a white horse and defended the Maltese. The Maltese had no help from foreigners.

In 1682 the Cathedral Chapter commissioned the artist Mattia Pretia to paint a large canvas showing the event. This can still can be seen in the chapel of the Annunciation at the Mdina Cathedral .

Furthermore, the Apostolic Visitor Mgr Peter Dusina ordered that St.Paul be co-titular of the Cathedral together with the Assumption of Our Lady. It is said that that the siege war was worse than the Great Siege because the Maltese were alone.