XirCammini
XirCammini is a voluntary, non-profit making, non-denominational and non-sectarian membership organisation, open to all who support its aims, whose primary and over-riding objects are to research and advance knowledge and education about and generate interest in pilgrimages, hiking and/or faith travel focusing mainly on the ancient routes in Europe.
The name is an amalgamation of two words, one Semitic written in old Maltese ‘Xirca’, meaning society or confraternity, and the other ‘Cammini’, derived from Italian, meaning ‘Walks’.
XirCammini is registered with the Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations in Malta (VO1646). The name is also a registered trade mark 59214 belonging to the association and protected by law.
More information about XirCammini is available here.
Peregrinatio Sancti Pauli AD 60
Jean Pierre Fava
“Once safely on shore, we discovered that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness.” [Acts 28]. Saint Paul the Apostle, together with Luke the Evangelist, were shipwrecked in Malta on their way to Rome in AD 60.
XirCammini, in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority, has launched the Peregrinatio Sancti Pavli AD 60 Project, a cammino traversing places believed to be connected with Saint Paul, starting in full view of St. Paul’s islets (where the Saint is believed to have been shipwrecked) and ending in Mdina and Rabat.
Islets of Saint Paul
Saint Paul’s Islets, also known as Selmunett, are located off Selmun near the north-east of the main island of Malta. Traditionally, Saint Paul’s Bay and Saint Paul’s Islets are identified as the location for the Apostle’s shipwreck [Acts 27, 28]. Sometime after 1649, a tower was built on the island by Grand Master Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, similar to other Lascaris Towers. In 1844, a prominent statue of Saint Paul was erected, the work of two sculptors, Sigismondo Dimech and Salvatore Dimech, an apprentice of Sigismondo. Both created many other artistic works. The statue represents Saint Paul holding a book (The Word) in his left hand while holding up the right hand. At his feet lies the viper which, according to the Acts of the Apostles, came out of the fire and bit his hand. The statue is the work of Francesco Spiteri. The effigy was officially inaugurated and blessed on 21 September 1845. A marble tablet on the platform has the following inscription in Latin words, by the Latinist Dun G. Zammit (nicknamed Brighella):
‘To the Apostle St Paul, Master and Doctor of the Church of all People, Father and Patron of the Maltese. This statue is in the same place where he was shipwrecked – together with 275 others – on this island where he had to come and teach the faith of Christ, as his friend St Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles Cap. XXVII. Salvatore Borg, in memory of this event – in the year 1845 – worked hard for its erection’.
Pope John Paul II visited the island by boat during his visit to Malta in 1990. In the same year, a statue named Kristu tal-Baħħara (Christ of the Seamen) was sunk near Saint Paul’s Island. After 10 years, the statue was moved from Saint Paul’s Bay to Qawra point because of deteriorating visibility in the water and a decline in divers visiting the site.
St. Paul’s Statue, St Paul’s Island. Din l-Art Ħelwa, National Trust of Malta
Għajn Rażul Fountain, Saint Paul’s Bay
The origin of the Għajn Rażul fountain is lost in history, however tradition has it that when Saint Paul was shipwrecked on our islands, he touched the rocks and water started gushing out as a spring to succor the other two-hundred seventy-five shipwrecked with him. The word Għajn means spring while the word Rażul is a derivative from the Phoenician word meaning apostle. It is not certain when the fountain was first erected, but the lower part of the fountain might have been carved out of a single ancient block of granite of uncertain date and provenance. The upper part of the fountain consists of a statue of Saint Paul housed within a niche, and an inscription which bears the coat-of-arms of Grand Master de Vilhena and records that this was added in 1725. Għajn Rażul fountain was included in the Antiquities Protection List of 1932 and was scheduled as a Grade 1 national monument. It was restored twice by Din l-Art Ħelwa Foundation.
Ghajn Razul Fountain, St Paul’s Bay. Din l-Art Ħelwa, National Trust of Malta
Għajn Rażul Fountain, St Paul’s Bay. The Times of Malta, 8th of November 2012
San Pawl Tal-Ħġejjeġ (aka as The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck)
In Saint Paul’s Bay, close to the fountain of Għajn Rażul, the diocese of Malta had from ancient times a church dedicated to Saint Paul, known one as San Pawl Tal-Ħġejjeġ (aka Saint Paul’s Shipwreck Church). “Ħġejjeġ” means “Bonfires”, indeed, this site is the place where it is believed a bonfire was lit to keep the stranded survivors warm after the wreck, and where the Apostle was bitten by a viper which left him unharmed. The Miracle of the Viper Chapel is located here. It is not known when the original one was built, but it is certainly very old, and has been rebuilt several times. In the first printed description of Malta, written by Jean Quintin and printed in 1536, this church is mentioned as “a church of great worship“. In 1781, Enrico Pantaleone in his book lohannitarum Rhodiorum mentions this church as the place where the sick used to go and find healing. Historical documents show that the various churches rebuilt on this site housed many valuable works of art.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt became Malta’s ruler. He was a refined diplomat and a deeply religious man, possessing a strong devotion to Saint Paul. Also, Saint Paul was the patron of the French language, the Order’s Language. Thus, Wignacourt cultivated the places linked to Saint Paul, and did everything he could to take over and enrich both the Grotto in Rabat and the church in Saint Paul’s Bay. For him and the Order, it was also politically convenient to have control over the churches and sites linked to the Apostle, which would help them captivate the hearts of the Maltese. Pauline sanctuaries also gave the Order greater international prestige, since during the Counter-Reformation a site connected to an apostle conferred great status. Wignacourt was determined to link Saint Paul’s Bay with the Grotto to create a chain of Pauline devotion on the island. He also wanted to protect and embellish the exposed area of San Paul’ Bay by erecting a tower overlooking the coast. However, the primary interest was to guard the coast, so the church was relocated, but kept in the same area. In a very short time, the church was completed and decorated with three beautiful paintings, depicting the same subjects as works of art housed in the previous church. Unfortunately, during World War II, the Church was bombed, and the three paintings suffered great damage. The new church was blessed on the 3rd May 1617. In 1619, the Wignacourt Foundation, established in 1617, obtained the official Papal confirmation, where it was also stated that both Saint Paul’s Church and the Grotto form part of the same Foundation.
Azzopardi Ġ. Il-kappella ta’ San Pawl Nawfragu – San Pawl il-Baħar (The Chapel of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck). Kappelli Maltin
Saint Paul’s Grotto
Rabat in Malta was known as a parish from time immemorial. The De Mello Rollo indicates as parishes La Cappella di San Paolo de Fora (Saint Paul’s Grotto) which was the parish church of Rabat and Mdina together. Mdina was founded as Maleth by the Phoeniceans in the 8th century B.C. and later renamed Melitæ by the Romans. At Mdina, there was the Cathedral for the whole of Malta while at Rabat there was the seat of the parish for both Rabat and Mdina combined. The Grotto is one of the most venerated sites on our islands, which is where Saint Paul is said to have stayed when he arrived on our island in AD 60. He was shipwrecked in Malta when he was travelling from Crete to Rome to face trial before Caesar. The Apostle is said to have resided in this cavern during his three months stay. It is from here that he is thought to have preached and spread the word of God and thus gave us our Christian Faith. As a result of this, the cavern became a place of worship and many important personalities came on pilgrimages, including Pope Benedict XVI, Saint Pope John Paul II, Fabio Chigi who later became Pope Alexander VII, and Admiral Lord Nelson.
Mdina Cathedral of Saint Paul
The earliest reference to a Cathedral Chapter in Malta goes back to 1244 (an extant reference to Giovanni Zafarana, Maltensis Canonicus). However, the history of the site of the Mdina Cathedral is much older. Tradition claims the cathedral is built on the very same place where the Roman Governor Publius met Saint Paul right after his shipwreck. Indeed, archaeologists have found Roman remainsin the crypt of the cathedral. Even though it is virtually impossible to claim that this was, in fact, Publius’ own house, the finding still somehow supports this tradition. However, another strong tradition claims that Publius might have had his first encounter with the Apostle at San Pawl Milqi, also having archaeological remains of a Roman Villa and a close-by Paleo Christian / Roman site – Salina Catacombs. Both San Pawl Milqi and Salina Catacombs are very close to Saint Paul’s Bay, and hence the Islets of Saint Paul.
Saying Mdina already had a cathedral (or a matrix church for the whole of Malta) in the 6th century is not at all inaccurate. Official ecclesiastic sources indicate that this was the case, as maintained, for example, in letters from Pope Gregory the Great to Lucillus, Bishop of Malta dated AD 592 -599. The site of the cathedral in Mdina has been a distinct sacred space since time immemorial,given the fact that it is a privileged place, dominating the citadel of the old capital city of Mdina, in a particularly strategic place, à la the Athenian Acropolis. The first cathedral ever built in Malta is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is not surprising.The Blessed Virgin has always found an important place within the Maltese Christian traditions that some claim can be traced to Paul’s shipwreck itself, considering Paul was accompanied by Luke, and that Luke’s has been deemed the most Marian of all four Evangelists. Some claim it is even likely that Luke preached to the inhabitants about the Mother of the Savior, and that the early Christian community consequently grew its own forms of Marian devotion. Numerous early Marian shrines built around the archipelago suggest this might have been the case. Today’s Baroque Cathedral was built between 1693 and 1703, after the old cathedral was irreversibly damaged by an earthquake in 1693.
Christianity in Malta. Vassallo History
San Pawl Milqi
As indictaed above, the site is traditionally claimed to have been the place where Publius, the Protos of the island, welcomed and hosted Saint Paul in c. AD 60; hence, the site’s toponym San Pawl Milqi – Welcoming of Saint Paul. On-site excavations by the Missione Archeological Italiana in Malta between 1963 and 1968 found that the earliest human presence on the site could be dated to the prehistoric Żebbuġ phase (4,100-3,700 BC) through a number of underground burials. Evidence of humans during the Bronze Age’s Borġ in-Nadur phase (1,500-700 BC) is also attested but it remains unclear whether people in this epoch actually used the site or whether the material discovered found its way to San Pawl Milqi from a site up the hill. The first traces of a farm complex with domestic quarters appear in the 3rd century B.C., betraying Punic cultural influence. The farm complex underwent a series of changes throughout its centuries-long history, including a great fire. Following the fire, the oil-processing installations in the farm complex were refined and the building fortified in Roman imperial period – possibly to withstand attacks by corsairs from the nearby coast. Once abandoned, the whole site was occupied again for agricultural purposes during the Arab period, following which the area occupied by the chapel witnessed the presence of three (if not four) subsequent chapels including the present one built in the beginning of the 17th century. The longer occupation of the area under the chapel as well as the presence of three subsequent chapels on the same spot form the basis onto which the Missione Italiana sustained their firm belief in the Pauline tradition connected with the site. The origins of this tradition are, however, unclear.
San Pawl Milqi. Heritage Malta
Wignacourt Museum
The Wignacourt Collegiate Museum at Rabat (Malta) was formerly the baroque residence of the Chaplains of the Knights of St. John. Originally inaugurated by Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt (1601-1622), it has recently reopened after a thorough refurbishment of the whole building together with the restoration of most of the artworks which it presently hosts. Initially located outside the former Roman City of Melite, the Wignacourt Museum forms part of a Pauline complex as it is materially linked to St Paul’s Grotto, the cradle of Christianity in Malta. The building, fully completed in 1749, is on three levels: the underground level consists of a labyrinth of Punic, Roman and Christian Hypogea with interesting architectural features as well as a complex of World War II shelters with two main corridors and about fifty rooms. The ground floor level consists of a corridor with a number of rooms used as offices and minor collections whilst on the other side is a spacious garden with a built area which once included the refectory of the Chaplains of the Order and an oven which during World War II provided daily more than two thousand loaves for the population of Rabat. The first floor is the main exhibition space, as it has an impressive picture gallery with works by Mattia Preti, Antoine Favray, Francesco Zahra and other Maltese as well as European Artists. It also comprises a collection of 17th – 19th century Spanish, Italian and Maltese silver; a unique wooden altar used for the celebration of Mass on the galleys of the Order of the Knights of Malta; a collection of old relics and reliquaries, sculptures in wood, alabaster and bronze, including a medallion by Alessandro Algardi; maps, coins, prints and rare books among which is King Henry VIII’s ‘Septem Sacramants” written to confute Martin Luther and above all a baroque chapel for the private devotions of the residing chaplains.
Saint Paul’s Shipwreck Collegiate Church, Valletta**
The Maltese historiographer Gio Francesco Abela describes the church in his Descrittione di Malta (1647) as “a most beautiful temple”. The church, which is a Collegiate Parish, houses a relic of part of Saint Paul’s right wrist bone, and one of the four marble pillars or legs of the table on which the apostle was beheaded in Rome in 64 AD – donated by Pope Pius VII in 1818 in recognition of services rendered by the collegiate chapter during the plague outbreak of 1813. The main altarpiece, depicting the shipwreck of Saint Paul, is by the artist Matteo Perez d’Aleccio (1547 -1616), a follower of Michelangelo; and Melchiorre Gafa (1635 – 1667) sculpted the titular wooden statue of Saint Paul at his bottega in Rome. It shows the apostle in the act of preaching – a prototype for all other statues of Saint Paul in Malta. The also church holds numerous objects d’art of silver, gold and precious stones, mainly donated by Grand Masters and Bishops.
Saint Paul’s Shipwreck Collegiate Church, Valletta**
The Maltese historiographer Gio Francesco Abela describes the church in his Descrittione di Malta (1647) as “a most beautiful temple”. The church, which is a Collegiate Parish, houses a relic of part of Saint Paul’s right wrist bone, and one of the four marble pillars or legs of the table on which the apostle was beheaded in Rome in 64 AD – donated by Pope Pius VII in 1818 in recognition of services rendered by the collegiate chapter during the plague outbreak of 1813. The main altarpiece, depicting the shipwreck of Saint Paul, is by the artist Matteo Perez d’Aleccio (1547 -1616), a follower of Michelangelo; and Melchiorre Gafa (1635 – 1667) sculpted the titular wooden statue of Saint Paul at his bottega in Rome. It shows the apostle in the act of preaching – a prototype for all other statues of Saint Paul in Malta. The also church holds numerous objects d’art of silver, gold and precious stones, mainly donated by Grand Masters and Bishops.
Saint Paul’s Pro-cathedral (Anglican), Valletta**
St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral is situated at the end of Archbishop Street in Valletta and was built between 1839 and 1844. The Dowager Queen Adelaide widow of King William IV, funded its building and her name is inscribed on the facade of the building facing Auberge D’Aragon.
During her visit in 1838-39 she discovered that there was no Anglican church in Malta and ordered one to be built. The cathedral was finally built on the site where the Auberge d’Allemagne, home to the German knights, used to stand but was knocked down to make way for the new cathedral. The cathedral was dedicated to St. Paul.
Its huge steeple of 65m (210ft) which stands out and together with the dome of the Carmelite Church a few metres away marking the capital’s skyline.
Vella J. Thalassic imaginaries: witnesses to (an) unwritten history. European Review of History: Revue européenne d’histoire. Published online: 07 September. 2021
Mercieca S. St Paul’s departure from Malta. Times of Malta, 19th April 2010
**Not included in itinerary
More news and information about XirCammini’s endeavours to research and generate interest in pilgrimages, hiking and faith travel for ancient routes of Europe are available here.
Malta Tourism Authority
The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) was formally set up to strengthen the public and private partnership in tourism through greater and more direct participation by the private sector in national planning and development of the industry.
MTA’s vision is to achieve a healthy, sustainable and equitable tourism sector for the Maltese Islands ensuring that those who choose our destination are served with professionalism and care.
The Malta Tourism Authority is here:
- To promote and advance Malta as a tourism destination.
- To advise Government on tourism operations and to issue licences under the Act.
- To contribute toward the improvement of the level of human resources in the tourism industry.
- To advise government on the planning and development of the tourism industry as well as on the infrastructure supporting the industry.
- To assist and advise on any tourism-related issues and to undertake activities, events and projects to fulfil our role.
More information about the Malta Tourism Authority is available here.