The chapel of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary at St George’s basilica in Victoria is being restored. The titular painting of the chapel is being restored
Noel Muscat, OFM, details how the Franciscan Friars Minor received a plot of land in Valletta on May 18, 1571 on which they built the Santa Maria di Gesù church, better known as Ta’ Ġieżu
The crucifix during restoration works led by Fr Charles Vella in 2019.
On May 18, 1571, the Franciscan Friars Minor, at the time known as the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, received a plot of land from Grand Master Pietro Del Monte close to Porta del Monte (today’s Victoria Gate), in Valletta, on which they were to build their second church and friary in Malta after the church and friary of Santa Maria di Gesù, in Rabat, where they settled in 1500 after lengthy preparations going back to 1482.
Shop owners and staff have been busy re-arranging stock, displaying their wares and sprucing up their outlets in preparation for what they hope will be a ‘grand’ opening tomorrow, when they are finally allowed to welcome customers back into their premises.
April 26 marks a new phase for the lifting of measures designed to curb the spread of COVID-19, with restrictions already eased at schools, care homes for the elderly and for religious activities.
It is now the turn of ‘non-essential’ services – clothes shops, hairdressers, florists and so on – to get up and running again.
Groups of four will also be allowed in public – up from two – and four households can gather in private residences, also doubling from two.
The Unholy War: a five-part series on Malta’s Interdett – Part 1
First of a MaltaToday series on the January 1961 Church Interdett, first published in MaltaToday in 2005
17 April 2021, 5:34pm
by Michaela Muscat
In January 1961, the diocesan commission issued a circular which was read out in all churches condemning the MLP’s affiliation with the Socialist International and the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organisation. In a bid to wield its power over the god-fearing masses, it declared a sin the reading of Labour newspapers and the attendance of MLP meetings.
The events of the sixties would re-carve Maltese society as Gonzi’s ‘holy soldiers’ battled Mintoff’s ‘evil’ ‘soldiers of steel’ (suldati ta’ l-azzar), the total number of people who had voted in favour of Labour’s proposal for integration of the Maltese islands with the United Kingdom.
Nine Giuseppe Calì paintings at the Għajnsielem parish church have been restored.
The restoration was commissioned by Archpriest Frankie Bajada and financed by Bank of Valletta.
Fr Charles Vella, who was entrusted with the restoration project, explained that infilling and reintegration were necessary to recover the paintings’ original aesthetic conditions.
“Dating back to the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, these paintings were damaged by tears and fungus infestations. Preventive conservation was also undertaken to minimise future decay and unnecessary treatments.
Research conducted before the restoration project reveals that Calì applied his techniques through handmade colours consisting of natural minerals.