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St Paul: Malta's First Hero

St. Paul's churches are everywhere on Malta, as well as St.Paul's Bay, St Paul's Grotto, St Paul's Island, St Paul's Catacombs. Why? St Paul converted the Maltese Islands to Christianity in an exciting story from the Bible, commemorated in the giant frescoes of "St Paul Shipwreck Church" in Valletta. In AD 60, when Paul was a prisoner on the way to trial in Rome, his ship sank off the coast of Malta. Paul impressed the inhabitants with two miracles: he was unharmed by a snakebite and cured the deathly ill father of the Maltese ruler Publius. Within three months, Malta was one of the first Roman colonies to become Christian, and, except for the Arab interim, has remained strongly Catholic. Ironically, one of the few Protestant churches (the Anglican cathedral) is called "St Paul's."

On our first day in Valletta, most of the excursioners toured both the Shipwreck church and the Anglican cathedral. The Shipwreck church is known as "Valletta's hidden gem" because the very plain, easily overlooked entrance does not prepare the visitor for the large, ornately baroque interior. The first thing we saw was the huge statue of St. Paul, which is carried through the streets of Valletta during the procession on his "festa" day. The friendly and talkative priest of the Shipwreck church, who had lived in Germany, illustrated the story of St Paul with the frescoes and relics, including the martyr's wristbone and half of the column on which he was beheaded in Rome. No relics in the the Anglican cathedral, but we were pleased with the English cushions, painstakingly decorated in needlework of Union Jack colors.