Paul’s Churches And Chapels On Malta And Gozo
Victor Mallia-Milanes; Introduction by Mgr Alfred Xuereb (Secretariat of Pope Benedict XVI)
Libreria Editrice Vaticana pp153
ISBN 978-88-209-8395-5

Victor Mallia-Milanes’s latest publication is a book about churches and chapels in Malta and Gozo dedicated to St Paul.

At a local level, the book represents an excursus of the principal shrines dedicated to St Paul. More importantly, this is the first publication to have put the local cult of St Paul on an international pedestal. The Vatican has now sealed the perennial question whether St Paul was shipwrecked off the coast of Malta or somewhere else in the Mediterranean. For Prof. Mallia-Milanes, there is no doubt (and rightly so) that historically this shipwreck did take place off the shores of our islands.

Prof. Mallia-Milanes discusses the shrines linked in popular memory with the saint’s stay in Malta.

The first two were at Rabat and Mdina respectively, with the most important being the cathedral which is dedicated to this saint and reputedly built on the house of the Protos Publius. The other shrine is the grotto, which competed with the cathedral as the place of Pauline importance. But while the presumed house of Publius became the centre of devotion, the grotto was and remained a place of historical curiosity even after the Order’s arrival. The author then refers to the mediaeval chapel dedicated to St Paul at the Cala di San Paolo. Already as far back as late mediaeval times, this area was linked with the shipwreck of St Paul.

Prof. Mallia-Milanes also quotes Achille Ferris who mentions the existence of a chapel dedicated to the saint on Sciberras Hill.

While there are historical records about the presence of a chapel in this area prior to the Great Siege, it seems that it had a different dedication. Therefore, if a chapel dedicated to St Paul existed within the harbour area, it was situated somewhere else. Recently, Stanley Fiorini seems to have given the answer as he mentions the existence of a mediaeval chapel dedicated to St Paul in the parameters of Vittoriosa. Most probably, this chapel was situated in the area where the chapel of St Paul at Cospicua stands today, as in mediaeval times, this area was part of Vittoriosa. Was there any association in the collective memory of the late mediaeval man with the presence of such a chapel and the departure of St Paul from Malta?

Malta can boast six main churches dedicated to St Paul. As already explained, the foremost is the Mdina Cathedral. Rabat too built another big church to this saint next to the grotto. Once a new city was built, the first parish church was dedicated explicitly to the shipwreck of the saint in Malta. Then, three villages decided to have their main parish church dedicated to the saint. Ħal Safi was the first in 1592. Next, the village of Nadur decided to change the main dedication from that to the Virgin Mary to the Martyrdom of St Peter and St Paul. Closer to our times, the village of Munxar decided to have its parish church called after this saint.

The third and last chapter is dedicated to six chapels and three wayside chapels of St Paul, the foremost of which is that known as San Pawl tal-Ħuġġiega at St Paul’s Bay.

The other chapels that are discussed are those of Burmarrad, Cospicua, Marsalforn, San Pawl tat-Tarġa and Birkirkara. The three wayside chapels are San Pawl tal-Qlejgħa in the limits of Mosta, St Paul of Qassati in the limits of Attard and the third lies at Xrobb l-Għagin.

The author took the opportunity to discuss in detail the leitmotif and serendipity of the main pala d’altare of each and every church and chapel dedicated to this St Paul.

Thanks to this work, both the locals and tourists are being offered a book which, while being of a high academic content, can serve them as a guide in the footsteps of the Pauline cult in Malta and Gozo.

Furthermore, the local reader is offered a translation into Maltese of the English text while the specialised reader has an extensive bibliography of the main works published on this topic as well as a good index.