CHAPTER  1

IMAGES OF OUR LADY OF SORROWS

            Our Lady has a special place in our devotions as Christians because it leads us to Jesus Christ. A very moving incident in Our Lady’s life is when she is shown sharing the suffering which her Son Jesus Christ went through. The pictures of Our Lady by the Cross is very clear in our minds and also the pictures of Our Lady receiving in her arms the dead body of her Son Jesus.

      In Malta the devotion towards Our Lady of Sorrows is not only   shown on its feast day or as represented in the statues of Good Friday; it is not confined to the huge amount of paintings and other works of art which we find in many of our churches, chapels and oratories, but is also clearly visible in our streets. In many streets of our towns and villages we find many statues which show episodes of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and some of them attract lots of devotion from the faithful. Our city of Senglea is also renowned for these sacred images.

            During World War II which lasted from 1939-1945, Senglea suffered a great amount of damage and most of the city was destroyed. A lot of buildings were bombed and we thus lost a good number of these corner statues and niches. In Victory Street corner with Our Lady of Sorrows Street there is a stone statue of Our Lady of Sorrows which fortunately survived the destruction which the war brought with her and remained intact. Without doubt it is one of the oldest statues we have in our city and the artist who made it was good one too. The home to which the statue is fixed has a lot of artistic stone ornaments frames and panels, which together with other sculptures give an imposing artistic façade to this house which dates back to the early 19^th century.

    Our Lady of Sorrows is shown with a sorrowful look, with her head slightly inclined and her hands held tightly together. Her mantle is seen gathered together by her right hand side with parts of it fluttering about. Here one can note the fine details in the sculpture especially when the artist was working on the dress and mantle. When one examines the statue well one can see, when looking on the right hand side of the statue, the knees are slightly bent forward. This statue which presumably was put up on private initiative is put up on top of an artistic pedestal. The statue and pedestal rest on a column which is decorated with cartridge and leaves entwined together and in their midst one finds two symbols relating to the Passion of Our Lord, namely the lance and sponge. On the central scroll, found on the upper part of the column there is the following inscription: Indulgenza di giorni XL a chi recitera una Salve Regina in onore di questa imagine.* (An indulgence of forty days is given to the person who prays the Hail Holy Queen in front of this holy image). Here one must point out that an identical column is found on the left hand side of the Oratory of the Fraternity of the Crucifix in Oratory Street, Cospicua. On this column in Cospicua there is also a very old statue of Our Lady of Sorrows and is one of the oldest found in the streets of Cospicua. It was already there in 1759.

       Our Lady of Sorrows is shown with a sorrowful look, with her head slightly inclined and her hands held tightly together. Her mantle is seen gathered together by her right hand side with parts of it fluttering about. Here one can note the fine details in the sculpture especially when the artist was working on the dress and mantle. When one examines the statue well one can see, when looking on the right hand side of the statue, the knees are slightly bent forward. This statue which presumably was put up on private initiative is put up on top of an artistic pedestal. The statue and pedestal rest on a column which is decorated with cartridge and leaves entwined together and in their midst one finds two symbols relating to the Passion of Our Lord, namely the lance and sponge. On the central scroll, found on the upper part of the column there is the following inscription: Indulgenza di giorni XL a chi recitera una Salve Regina in onore di questa imagine.* (An indulgence of forty days is given to the person who prays the Hail Holy Queen in front of this holy image). Here one must point out that an identical column is found on the left hand side of the Oratory of the Fraternity of the Crucifix in Oratory Street, Cospicua. On this column in Cospicua there is also a very old statue of Our Lady of Sorrows and is one of the oldest found in the streets of Cospicua. It was already there in 1759.

        A characteristic feature found in the Cottonera area is the wooden niches. A typical niche is the one dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and which is found in Point Street corner with St Francis Street. It is an old square niche with a wooden upper part of a canopy on top. As can be seen in the scroll next to this niche, the Senglean Bishop Ferdinandu Mattei had already bestowed indulgence to the people who prayed in front of this image way back in 1814.     

        This niche has the following inscription: L’Eccelmo, e Rmo Monsignore Fra Don Ferdinando Mattei Arcivescovo di Rodi, e Vescovo di Malta, concede giorni 40 d’indulgenza a chiunque recitera’ una Salve Regina Avanti questa imagine della BMA Vergine Addollorata. Li 15 Settembre 1814. (His Excellency and Rev. Mons. Fra Dom Ferdinando Mattei Archbishop of Rhode and Bishop of Malta concedes an indulgence of forty days for whomever receits before the niche of Our Lady the prayer Hail Holy Queen. Today 15^th September  1814).          

                       A niche of Our Lady of Sorrows in                                                                 The scroll found near the niche in Point Street

                  Point Street corner with St Francis Street.                                                                    corner with St Francis Street.

The new niche which is now fixed by house

25 Our Lady of Sorrows Street.

           There is another wooden niche dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and is found next to the house numbered 25 Our Lady of Sorrows Street in Senglea. The niche we see today was made at the end of the 20^th century. This is made up of a sizeable picture of Our Lady of Sorrows in a gilded frame. The holy picture is decorated with two polished wooden columns on each side and with a pyramid shaped top. On top of the pyramid there is a small wooden cross. All the wood work in this niche is polished.

           Here one must point out that this niche replaced an older one which was badly damaged and was beyond repair. The original one was in the form of a tabernacle and on the front there was an iron decoration which could also hold candles.

   There is another niche also dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows and it is found going down hill in Bastion Street towards Senglea Point. This niche was set up approximately 250 years ago and always attracted a lot of devotion from the people. It is in the form a square hold dug up in the wall. In it there is a sizeable picture of Our Lady of Sorrows. A scroll on the side of the niche reads as follows: Ill. E. Rev: Mon. Sign: Fr. Paolo Alpheran Arcivesc: di Damiata Vescovo di Malta concesse 40 giorni di indulgenza a chiunque recitera un credo innanzi a quest’ imagine li 8 Febraro 1756. (The Most Rev. Mons. Fra. Paolo Alpheran Archbishop of Damiata and Bishop of Malta concedes 40 days of indulgence to those who receipt the Crede in front of this holy image. Granted on the 8^th February 1756.)

            Since the indulgence is given if the faithful receipt the ‘Crede’ so it can be presumed that the original niche was dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, because usually in front of a niche dedicated to Our Lady one receits the Hail Holy Queen.

        As we saw the images of Our Lady of Sorrows are not only found in our churches and chapels but all over the place. These niches and holy images are another proof of the great devotion our people have towards the suffering Our Lord went through. Without doubt these holy images enabled the people to keep in close contact with our Christian faith and also give us the strength to accept our problems with faith and trust in God.