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St Paul: Miracle Man Transforms Malta

This station in Maltese history provides the greatest cultural influence on Malta of the whole multitude of invasions in Malta's heritage.In 60 AD St Paul converted the entire population to Christianity within three months, largely on the basis of two miracles - he remained unharmed after a snakebite and he cured the ruler of Malta's mortally ill father. Except for the 200-year Arab period (870-1090 AD) Catholicism has remained deeply engrained in the Maltese architecture, politics, way of life, and soul. As we have described elsewhere in this website (excursion > projects > history > St Paul), Paul is a hero of the greatest proportions for the Maltese.

The St Paul exhibit for our Market was a creative one, consisting in competing sets of pictures, hand-drawn by Juliane Becker and Kristina Kösling. The picture stories depicted St Paul's biography, particularly his dramatic conversion from the Roman tax collector Saul to the Christian missionary Paul, as well as the even more dramatic shipwreck on the shores of Malta; this accident led him to introduce Christianity to the Maltese, then pagan subjects of the Roman Empire. The King James Bible version of both conversions was included in the exhibit.

The description of the Maltese people in the Bible (Acts of the Apostles XXVII) shows that their 21st-century friendliness and hospitality have a long tradition; St Luke reports that, after the shipwreck, the 275 passengers were cared for generously: "the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold."