Malta – Rabat – St Paul’s Grotto

Malta – Rabat – St Paul’s Grotto

Originally uploaded by let².

Pope Benedict XVI prays in front a of statue of St.Paul in the grotto of the Saint Paul church in Rabat, Malta, Saturday, April 17, 2010.

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 custodian will inform you that 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.

Malta 2009 – Rotunda Santa Marija Assunta

Malta 2009 – Rotunda Santa Marija Assunta

Originally uploaded by let².

The Rotunda of St Marija Assunta ( Mosta Dome ) is a church in Mosta, Malta. Built in the 19th century on the site of a previous church, it was designed by the Maltese architect Giorgio Grognet. Its dome is among the largest in the world, with a diameter of 37 meters (122ft). The rotunda dome is the third-largest church dome in Europe and the ninth largest in the world.