Once safely on shore we found out that the island .....was called Malta

Acts 28: 1

The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.  When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Acts 28: 2 - 6

There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius   the chief official of the island

Acts 28: 7

He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

Acts 28: 7 - 10

Acts 28 (New International Version, ©2010)

Our Voyage

Our voyage will take us along several routes to where St. Paul  is said to have been shipwrecked on St. Paul’s island  to where he was greeted and had a fire lit up. St. Paul’s Bay .

We will also visit the residence where St. Paul was greeted at Saint Paul welcomed in Burmarad.

We will proceed to Mdina towards the Cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul and St. Luke, the village of Rabat where St.Paul was kept St. Paul’s Grotto.

We will also marvel at the relic of St. Paul kept in Valletta. Visit the place where St. Paul preached at San Pawl Tat Targa, and lastly Gozo to Marsalforn from where St. Paul left on his last trip to Rome.



.St. Paul’s island the place from where St. Paul was shipwrecked and from where they then swam ashore

St. Paul's Bay

This beautiful village church in St. Paul’s Bay was built on  the venue where the first bonfire was lit to warm up the survivors from where St. Paul gave his first sermon to the maltese.

San Pawl Milqi

The present chapel of St Paul, or San Pawl Milqi, dates from 1616 although it was built on the site of an earlier, 15th century church. San Pawl Milqi means ‘St Paul is welcomed’.

 It is commonly believed that this was the place where Publius, the then Island’s Roman governor, welcomed St Paul and where the Apostle preached after his shipwreck on Malta in around AD 60. However, studies and research that has been carried sometimes are difficult to reconcile with this popular tradition. The most important aspect of the site still remains the finds of the villa which shed light on the nature of the Maltese economy under the Romans.



St. Paul's Milqi Church

San Pawl tat Targa

San Pawl tat Targa  the place from where St. Paul gathered the first Christians preaching to them the word of God. It is said that people heard his sermons as far as Gozo from this spot.

St. Paul’s statue	St. Paul’s chapel

St. Paul's Grotto

The parish church of Rabat, founded in 1575 but remodelled in 1692, was built over one of Malta's earliest Christian chapels, on the same spot where St Paul once preached. The Grotto of St Paul, below the adjoining Chapel of St Publius, is the main point of interest. According to local Christian belief is was here that St Paul spent several weeks preaching Christianity; another story has it that the apostle was imprisoned here. It is also said that stone scraped from the grotto walls has special healing powers and that, however much stone is scraped away, the cave never alters in size. The prominent feature, below a series of dimly lit catacombs, is a marble statue of St Paul.

The grotto was once a Roman prison and will show you the holes in the roof from where the prisoner's chains once hung. Two tiny chapels are dedicated to St Paul and St Luke, each one with a statute of its apostle.

In 1990 Pope John Paul II visited Rabat and came to pray in the grotto. His starting prayer, 'God Bless Malta and the Maltese', is inscribed on a plaque on the exterior wall of the church.

St. Paul’s church in Rabat	Pope Benedict XVI praying inside St. Paul’s Grotto

St. Paul's Cathedral Mdina

The Cathedral also know as St Paul's Cathedral is the architectural crown of the elegant, walled city of Mdina. A late 17th century masterpiece of Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa', it lies on the site of a much earlier Norman church that was destroyed by the violent earthquake of 1693. According to tradition, the earlier church had been built on the site of the house of Publius, the Roman's chief man on the Islands, who was converted to Christianity by St Paul in A.D. 60. The Cathedral's imposing facade greets you abruptly as you emerge from Mdina's narrow streets. The building is topped by a magnificent dome, possibly one of Gafa's greatest achievements. the dome has though had a chequered history: a succession of painters have tried to embellish its interior. Today's dome interior dates from the 1950s. In the Mdina cathedral, you find works by the Calabrian artist and Knight, Mattia Preti. The pavement of marble-inlaid tombstones carries the coats of arms and inscriptions of the bishops of Mdina and other members of the Cathedral chapter. In the choir behind the main altar is Preti's monumental depiction of The Conversion of St Paul. It was part of the original Norman church, and survived the earthquake.



St. Paul’s cathedral in Mdina

St. Paul's Shipwreck Church

The church of St Paul traces its origins to the 1570s. Although the church of the Dominican fathers had already been declared as parish of Valletta, the Cathedral Chapter insisted on having a church of its own from where to administer sacraments to the inhabitants. Another church was constructed in 1609 but was demolished in 1639. The plans of the new church were prepared by Bartolomeo Garagona. The facade was rebuilt in 1885 to the design of Nicola Zammit. St Paul is considered to be the spiritual father of the Maltese. His shipwreck is popularly considered as the greatest event in the nation's history. For this reason, St Paul's Collegiate Church is one of the most important in Malta. The church hosts fine artistic works, including the magnificent altarpiece by Matteo Perez d'Aleccio, the choir and dome of Lorenzo Gafa, the paintings by Attilio Palombi, and Giuseppe Cali and the titular statue of Melchiorre Gafa. One can also view the treasured relic of the right wrist-bone of St Paul, and part of the column on which the saint was beheaded in Rome.

St. Paul’s cathedral in Valletta