For the occasion of the 1950th anniversary of the shipwreck of St Paul in Malta and as a dedication to Pope Benedict’s first visit to Malta in April, Victor Mallia-Milanes, professor of Early Modern History at the University of Malta, wrote about churches and chapels dedicated to St Paul in the Maltese islands.
Paul’s Churches And Chapels On Malta And Gozo also includes the Maltese translation by Dr Joseph Axiaq and a presentation by Rev. Mgr Alfred Xuereb, Secretariat for His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
It was officially launched on Friday, October 22 at the ĊAK headquarters in Birkirkara. The book was published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana in conjunction with Reliġjon u Ħajja during an evening presided over by Mgr Tommaso Caputo, Apostolic Nuncio to Malta, and Mgr Giuseppe Scotti, president of the LEV Administrative Council as well as Secretary to the Pontifical Council of Social Communications.
Besides the author and translator, other contributors towards the evening were director of Casa Editrice Vaticana Prof. Don Giuseppe Costa SDB and Fr Paul Darmanin, director of Reliġjon u Ħajja.
Prof. Fr Hector Scerri spoke in detail about the faith of the Maltese brought about by St Paul and Keith Sciberras dealt with the historical and artistic aspect of churches and chapels in Malta and Gozo vis-à-vis St Paul.
Mgr Xuereb was the last, but definitely not the least, speaker of the evening, chaired by Prof. Fr Edmond Caruana O. Carm, editor responsible from Libreria Editrice Vaticana. He spoke about the Pope’s visit to Malta and how pleased the Pope was with the great welcome the people gave him notwithstanding the turbulent events preceding the visit.
He related an episode which took place the first Christmas night following the Pope’s election to the throne of Peter.
They were together in a private gathering singing Christmas carols in English, Italian and German when at one point the Pope turned to Mgr Xuereb telling him that the previous Pope’s private secretary used to sing Polish Christmas songs and invited him to sing something in Maltese.
Mgr Xuereb sang the age-old Ninni La Tibkix Iżjed while the Pope accompanied him on the piano.
Surely it was a wonderful duet. Mgr Xuereb admitted that that night he felt proud to be Maltese.
The evening was concluded by a short speech by the Apostolic Nuncio who augured that this new publication would bring us closer to the heritage left by St Paul.
The launching of the book proved to be an evening full of information. However, more knowledge on the subject can be obtained by reading Prof. Victor-Milanes’s great work on Paul’s Churches And Chapels On Malta and Gozo. May contents of this publication serve as an instrument in our worship of the Almighty.