St Mary of Jesus Friary, Valletta

After the Order of St. John settled in the new city Valletta, on 19 April 1571 the Franciscan Observants petitioned Grand Master Pietro del Monte to donate to them a piece of land on which to build a church and friary, just as he had given to other religious Orders. On 18 May 1571 the Grand Master donated a plot of land above Porta del Monte (Victoria Gate) and a legal deed was drawn in front of notary Placido Abela and signed by the Vicar Fra Nicola di Calabria. The foundation stone of the new church, also dedicated to Santa Maria di Gesù (hence the name Ta’ Ġieżu) was laid on 21 September 1575. The architect of the church was Girolamo Cassar, a military engineer of the Knights, who is also the architect of the Conventual Church of St. John. In fact, the plan of Ta’ Ġieżu church closely resembles a miniature plan of what is today the Co-Cathedral of St. John. Besides the original church, still standing except for the upper levels and ceiling, the bell tower is still the original one built by Girolamo Cassar, overlooking Grand Harbour. The church was functioning in 1577. A contract drawn in 1585 shows that there was a stable community of friars administering the church. The Franciscan historian Francisco Gonzaga mentions the Valletta friary in 1587. A thorough restructuring of the church was undertaken in 1674-1680 by the Guardian Filiberto Peylabere, who renewed the ceiling and opened side windows between which were placed eight paintings of Franciscan saints which now hang in the friary refectory. The arched roof above the choir was rebuilt as we see it today in 1686, when the church was lengthened and two side chapels with a barrel valuted roof were added. The sacristy was placed behind the choir and above it a night chapel (coro di notte) was built in the friary. In 1689 the Order’s military engineer Mederico Blondel built the façade we see today in St. John Street, in Doric style. In 1833 the side wall of the church overlooking St. Ursola Street was strengthened by a buttress as a result of structural movements in the building. For the same reason it was decided to rebuild the roof the church in 1923-1926. The flat roof of stone slabs stands above a steel cage holding a wooden arched ceiling. The architect was Reginald Soler and the wooden panels were the work of Fra Ċels Micallef. This is the ceiling we see today. It was painted by the Italian artist Virginio Monti. The church was consecrated by Bishop Dom Mauro Caruana OSB on 8 February 1927. The titular painting represents a Visitation scene, but with emphasis on the mystical espousals of St. Catherine of Alexandria. It is the work of the Sicilian painter Antonio Catalano da Messina (1600). The marble altar was made in 1755 by Claudio Durante and paid by Bailiff Fra’ Melchior Alvaro Pinto, brother of Grand Master Emanuel Pinto de Fonseca. Another precious painting is that by Pietro Novelli il Monrealese in the chapel of St. Trophimus (1632), which was a juspatronatus of the Order’s historian Fra’ Giovanni Francesco Abela. The first chapel to the right hand side of the main door is the Cappella della Passione, which is a juspatronatus of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Crucifix, founded in the church by a group of laymen under the direction of Fr. Agostino Burlò on 1 November 1646. In the same chapel there is an altar with a painting of the Virgin Mary of Sorrows, the work of Stefano Erardi (1673). The most important sacred image venerated in the church is the Miraculous Crucifix sculptured by the Franciscan lay brother and mystic Fra Innocenzo da Petralia Soprana, and placed in this chapel in 1648. In Malta there is another similar Crucifix in the Mdina Cathedral, also by Fra Innocenzo, and donated by Bishop Miguel Juan Balaguer y Camarasa on 4 May 1648. The Valletta Crucifix, known as Il-Kurċifiss Ta’ Ġieżu, is one of the most venerated sacred images in Malta. The Franciscan Friars and the Confraternity of the Crucifix introduced many Lenten and Holy Week devotions in Malta, many of them brought over from the Holy Land, such as the Stationes of the Mysteria Passionis in Lent, the pilgrimage of the Duluri and the Good Friday procession. On the left hand side of the main door is the sarcophagus containing the relics of Blessed Nazju Falzon (1813-1865), beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in Malta on 9 May 2001.

Historical information: Ġorġ Aquilina OFM, Il-Franġiskani Maltin (Ta’ Ġieżu), Malta 2011.