Malta, Mary’s Land: Faith Across Millennia

 

From Aleteia

By Jean Pierre Fava - Visit Malta

A Mediterranean nation shaped by centuries of Marian devotion, where faith, history, and culture meet in churches, shrines, and lived tradition.

This is the first article of a series that is part of an ongoing and long partnership between Aleteia and VisitMalta. This series will span over 12 months. The first six months will focus on Marian devotion in the Maltese Islands and the second half will delve into the connection between the Maltese archipelago and Our Lady of Lourdes. 

The first part will show and help readers understand how faith, history, culture and tradition blend to shape the history of a nation. This campaign will focus on the influence of Marian devotion, which shows the veneration of and the devotion to the Blessed Virgin that has influenced greatly the history and culture of Malta and beyond. The next six months show that this multi-millenial Marian devotion and divine providence inspired the Maltese to fully and immediately embrace and believe in Our Lady’s apparitions in Massabielle. 

The Maltese are well known for their deep Catholic faith and their centuries-old devotion to the Blessed Virgin. People travel to experience the cultures and traditions of other peoples, and faith-oriented tourists and pilgrims are no different. Malta offers all of this, and beyond, as the whole nation is living evidence of the 2,000-year history of Christianity from its origins. We learn about the history of Malta to appreciate its culture, and also to also help deepen our faith. 

St. Paul

Since prehistoric times, the islands of Malta and Gozo were the only parts of the Archipelago to be inhabited. The Maltese Christian community is as ancient as that of Ephesus, Jerusalem, Corinth and Rome, thanks to the Apostle Paul. It is noteworthy that Malta is a country while the others are cities. Indeed, Malta is among the very few countries that embraced the Christian faith, which is how it accounts for having a 2,000-year Christian history. In fact, our islands are known as the Islands of Saint Paul. The Apostle of the Gentiles’ shipwreck in AD 60 was providential, as was his forced stay in Malta during the unnavigable winter months. He preached the Good News of the Risen Christ to our forefathers. The inhabitants were impressed by his eloquent words and converted when they witnessed the miracles he performed in the name of Christ. Since then, and to this day, the Maltese are among the most passionate Catholics in the world..

Scriptures do not provide many details about the appearance of Mary. One of those artists —tradition holds— is also the author of one of the Gospels. Christian tradition has attributed to Luke many different talents -- one of them that of being an exceptional painter and the author of the very first “portrait” of Mary herself. Considered the most literary of all Gospel writers, he is not only credited with the Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Eastern churches consider him as the original “iconographer,” responsible for “writing” the first icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One ancient account explains how during the 5th century a Byzantine empress took an icon attributed to St. Luke all the way from Jerusalem to Constantinople. The Hodegon Monastery was built to enshrine it, and later all copies of this icon became known as Hodegetria ("She who shows the Way to the Savior"). Most believe the original image was lost during the Middle Ages. This is the very same Luke who was also Paul’s companion and scribe during his trips around the Mediterranean. During his stay, Paul also converted the island’s governor, Publius (Malta’s first bishop and first saint), healed the sick and won souls for Christ, establishing the very roots of Maltese Christianity. It is noteworthy that in Acts 28, Luke tells the story in the first person plural, “we."

The Paleo-Christian monumental heritage of these islands, apart from attesting to the vitality of the early Maltese Christian community, places Malta among the most important archaeological centers in the study of the ancient Christian world. The varied forms of architectural design within our underground Christian catacombs and the special characteristics that are the hallmark of prevailing customs and usages during the first centuries of the Christian Era make the Maltese Paleo-Christian heritage unique.

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

The Blessed Virgin has always found an important place within the Maltese Christian traditions. When the Apostle was shipwrecked on our shores, he was accompanied by the Evangelist Luke, who, wrote in his Gospel an anthology of Marian doctrines. Hence, it is probable that Luke spoke to the Maltese about the Mother of the Savior, and our forefathers warmly embraced his words.

The fact that Luke shipwrecked with Paul in the Maltese archipelago might explain why both historical artifacts and oral traditions provide evidence of a very early Marian devotion spread throughout these islands. Luke’s Gospel is the most Marian of them all, and is brimming with the seeds of what would later grow into full Mariological theological developments. In fact, Maltese traditions understand that it is likely that Luke spoke to the islanders about the Mother of the Savior. 

Various historical artifacts and spoken traditions dating to the Apostle’s shipwreck point to the fact that the locals who had accepted the Good News were devotees of the Blessed Virgin. So, we can also classify Malta as one of the earliest Marian shrines. All those who study human affairs agree that our holy places were built and hewn by our ancestors to cater to the spiritual needs of the early Mediterranean mariners who called on Maltese ports for shelter, commerce and supplies. Of particular interest is an ancient Siculo-Byzantine icon of the Blessed Virgin executed in Malta, the Mellieħa Madonna and Child (the Hodegetria). This holy icon is venerated among 20 other Marian Shrines in the European Marian Network as well as with other Marian shrines in the association "Mary Mother of Europe." The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieħa is the Maltese National Shrine of Our Lady.

There are numerous forms of Marian devotion (venerating a particular Marian title) that are widespread and maintain importance in the Maltese Christian traditions (churches, chapels, altars, paintings, images, sanctuaries and feasts). The many different chapels found throughout the Maltese landscape are also evidence that Malta was, from the beginning, a center of unambiguous Marian devotion. In the Maltese archipelago there are enough churches, small and big, for one to be able to attend Mass in a different knisja (Maltese for church), almost every day, throughout a whole year: an impressive 359 in total, most of which (over 200) are dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Some of them are Marian sanctuaries known for being places where countless special, miraculous graces have been granted to many throughout the centuries. The numerous ex-votos -- everything from handwritten notes to tiny baby clothes, and even a motorcycle helmet -- at the National Marian Shrines of Our Lady of Mellieha and Madonna Ta’ Pinu and many other shrines, for prayers answered, confirm this is the case, and pilgrims travel in droves to either ask the Virgin for a special grace as well as to thank her for those already received.

Malta’s Marian devotion in a defining hour

Mary also poured graces over the whole of Europe through Maltese devotion and prayer. The October 7 Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was formerly known as Our Lady of Victory, due to the triumph of the fleet of the Holy League against the Ottomans on this day in 1571. The Holy League (a joint force formed by the Papal States, the Knights of Malta, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Sardinia, the Kingdom of Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Venice, Genoa and Savoy) fought and won an intense battle against the fleet of the Ottoman Empire – the Battle of Lepanto. 

The League was vastly outnumbered. Pope St. Pius V ordered the churches of Rome opened for prayer day and night, encouraging the faithful throughout Europe to petition for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the recitation of the Rosary. When word reached Pope Pius of the victory of the Holy League, he attributed it to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thus, he added a new feast day to the Roman Liturgical Calendar: October 7 became the feast of the Holy Rosary. Actually, Pope St. Pius V is called the “Pope of the Holy Rosary,” as he was especially known for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and for being a great promoter of the Holy Rosary. Indeed, in 1569, he had already issued a Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices, in which he secured the uniformity of the Holy Rosary. 

Documents show that in 1571, almost concurrently with the institution of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary by Pope St. Pius V, the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary was established in the Dominican church of the Annunciation in Vittoriosa, making it the first official Confraternity of the Holy Rosary to be founded in the Maltese Islands, and probably one of the very first in the whole world! 

In Malta an analogous extraordinary happening befell six years before. On September 8, 1565, the Maltese and the Knights of Malta prevailed against the Ottomans through another Marian miracle. On the feast day of the Nativity of Our Lady, in Malta also known as Marija Bambina (Baby or Little Mary), the smallest of Christian principalities won against the superpower of the time. 

The story begins on May 18, 1565, when an armada of more than 200 warships was sighted off Malta. An invading Ottoman expeditionary force estimated to be 30,000 strong landed, and soon siege preparations began. However, the Knights of St. John and the Maltese prevailed against all odds and, after a terrible siege, the greatest superpower of the day abandoned the fight, accepted defeat, and sailed back home. Even the Grand Master, Jean Parisot de la Valette, himself didn’t believe this was a coincidence. In fact, during the heroic struggle to defend the Holy Faith and Western Christendom, he found spiritual solace and prayed for guidance before the 12th-century Byzantine icon known as Damaskinì (Our Lady of Damascus or La Damascena), at that time in the church of Our Lady of Damascus in Birgu (or il Borgo).

Actually, on the lifting of the siege on that fateful day of September 8, he laid down his hat and his sword on the altar steps as votive offerings to show his gratitude and thanksgiving to Our Lady for delivering him, the defenders, and the whole of Western Christendom from the Ottoman Turks. This victory was won against impossible odds, and nobody believed that the Turkish armada could be beaten by the relatively small garrison of the Knights of St. John the Baptist. It was a miracle — a grace granted by the Blessed Virgin to her devout children. Immediately, the Maltese and the Knights added another title to their Heavenly Mother and began to call her Our Lady of Victory (Maltese: Il-Madonna tal-Vitorja). In 1566, La Vallette laid the foundation stone of his new city, which later was given his name to honour the great war leader – Valletta. 

He ordered that the first building in his city was to be a church, which was erected on the foundation stone of the Fortress City, and he also financed the construction of this church. It was dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and since it was on September 8 that the Turks lifted their siege, it was most appropriate to hail the Madonna as Our Lady of Victory.

Final thought

Malta is unmistakably a Marian land. Across the centuries, the Maltese have remained devoted to the Blessed Virgin, turning to her in times of danger and honoring her in the rhythm of public worship, especially in beloved feasts such as Santa Marija. In this, Malta recalls both France and the United States: France has long been closely associated with the Assumption, while the United States is under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. Malta, in its own way, holds both mysteries especially dear — the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, which frame the beginning and the end of Mary’s earthly life.

Perhaps that is the clearest way to understand Maltese Marian devotion: as a steady confidence in Mary’s intercession. At Cana, she sees a human need and brings it to her Son. For generations of Maltese Catholics, that has been the heart of the matter.

Visit the slideshow below to discover more of the Maltese archipelago, a land of Marian graces.

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Pictured: Our Lady of Ta' Pinu, Malta, Papally crowned by decree of Pope Pius XI