The Carmelites will celebrate the feast day of Santa Venera next Sunday. Devotion towards St Venera dates back many years in Malta. It suffices to mention that in Rabat there are catacombs dedicated to this saint, who according to tradition came from Sicily to escape persecution.

The first church in the town of Santa Venera was built in 1473. In 1550, the church was enlarged and underwent a lot of maintenance, and in 1688 it was rebuilt.

On December 9, 1910, the Carmelites went to the rector of the church of Santa Venera, Dun Xand Cortis, to check out and ask whether they could use the church and the priory. He welcomed them and invited them to send some priests to start hearing confessions in the parish. Subsequently Archbishop Pietru Pace and Vicar General Mgr Lwigi Attard met their request and handed the church and priory over to the Carmelites.

Bishop Pace elevated the church to the status of a vice-parish on November 8, 1912. On May 23, 1913, the friars moved to the priory of Santa Venera where they were met by the town’s population and the local band. The people were very pleased at the arrival of the Carmelites and offered their services to restore the priory.

The first community was formed of Fr Ġwann Azzopardi, who was the vicar parish priest, Fr Telesforu Tanti and another friar. The successor of the Bishop Pace elevated it to a parish on September 4, 1918.

The sisters Beatrice and Eleonora Apap left to the Carmelite friars the legacy of their home and farm, known as Chateau Lonz. Subsequently the brothers Zammit informed the Carmelites that they were also ready to donate their land for the building of a new church and priory.

On October 2, 1952, Alice Bugeja donated her garden, known as ‘tal-iebes’ (hard) or ‘tat-turetta’ (turret) to the Carmelites. However, since the ground was not suitable to build the new church on it, the friars came to an agreement with the Zammit brothers to exchange their own land for that in front of the Apap Institute. This took place through a deed signed before notary Ġorġ Borġ Olivier.

The friars came to an agreement with the Zammit brothers to exchange their own land for that in front of the Apap Institute

On September 4, 1956, there was an exchange of land between the Carmelites and the Zammit brothers and the Mother Superior of the Dominican sisters Imelda Mercieca. The Carmelites chose Fr Rafael Caruana to supervise the building of the church, and an agreement was made with Emanuel Abela from Rabat to oversee the stone work. After the provincial chapter that took place in 1961 three friars were chosen to oversee the building. The friars agreed that the architect J. Naudi would be responsible for the building.

On February 21, 1969, the community opened the crypt for public use, and on March 19 that same year it was inaugurated.

After the provincial chapter of 1988, the works on the church continued.

New plans were put forward by Ġużeppi Galea from Rabat, and on February 19, 1990, an inspection of the church ceiling underneath the crypt was carried out.

The first stone of the church was blessed on October 6, 1990, and at the end of May 1991, scaffolding was erected to facilitate works. The next month the stone work began.

In January 1992, the provincial office was moved to the new church.

On December 3, 1988, Archbishop Joseph Mercieca transferred the parish church from the old church to the new one while works on the church were being finalised. It was agreed that when the works were finished, the new church would take responsibility for all the duties and rights of the parish church.

After 15 years the church building was finalised and on July 17, 2005, the church was blessed by the Archbishop Mercieca.

The parish priests who led the Santa Venera parish during the past 100 years were the following: Fr Ġwann Azzopardi, the first parish priest, followed by Fr Indri Spiteri, Fr Alfons Zammit, Fr Wistin Caruana, Fr Kilian Azzopardi, Fr Franġisk Grech, Fr Joseph Falzon, Fr Damjan Cachia, Fr Joe Vella, Fr Alex Scerri, Fr Joe Saliba and the present parish priest Fr Maurice Abela.

The church’s titular statue of St Venera was sculpted by Tumas Dalli and sponsored by an anonymous benefactor by the name ‘Majsi’.

There are many entities and groups in the parish that work hand in hand with the friars to build a community from which religious and priestly vocations may flourish.

In two years’ time the parish will be celebrating its 100th anniversary.

History and legend regarding the saint

St Venera is venerated as a Christian martyr of the second century. The date of her death is traditionally given as July 26, AD 143.

According to legend, as a girl, Venera studied the Gospel with zeal, and left her home in Gaul to become a missionary. She travelled to Grotte, Sicily, and preached there, and lived in a cave, near the present-day Corso Garibald.i

She became well-loved among the local populace, and tended to the sick.

She was kidnapped and taken to Acireale, and was tortured and ultimately, decapitated. Her body was placed in the catacomb of Santa Domitilla.

After her martyrdom, Christians are said to have transported her body to Ascoli Piceno, where it was venerated until the fourth century, and then taken by a priest to Rome.

At the end of the Middle Ages, the saint’s relics were reclaimed by Acireale, but relics associated with Venera were distributed across Sicily and Italy.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Venera’s cult flourished, when the relics of the saint were transferred from the Church of Jesus and Mary to the Cathedral of Acireale.

In 1668, the Sacred Congregation of Rites officially approved her cult.

Records from the basilica of Santa Maria a Pugliano in Ercolano state that Pope Alexander VII donated relics associated with Veneranda and Saint Maximus in the 17th century to the procurator general of the Carmelites in Rome.

These were then given to Fr Simone dello Spirito Santo, of the Carmelite convent of Torre del Greco, near Ercolano, establishing Veneranda’s popularity and the diffusion of her cult in the area of Ercolano.

Fr Hermann Duncan is a member of the community of Carmelite friars in Balluta.