THE PARISH CHURCH

      The church of St. Julian, was the first church to be erected at Senglea. This was built instead of another church that had been constructed in 1539 by Era Diego Perez de Malfreire. When Bishop Gargallo visited this church in 1602, it contained only one altar, and he was informed that sixteen Masses were said here throughout the year. One Mass was celebrated on the feast of St. Roque, and another one on the feast of St. Sebastian, both saints invoked at the time of the plague. AnotherMass was said on the feast of St. Julian.

       Grand Master Juan d’Omedes, intending to defend the area around the church of St. Julian by massive bastion erected Fort St. Michael which was inaugurated on May 8, 1552. This fort helped to embellish this plot of land. Grand Master Claude de La Sengle was so attracted to this peninsula, that in 1554 he decorated it with the title of a city calling it  “Senglea”. Soon dwellings started to be built, and in no time at all the peninsula began to he inhabited.

    September 8, 1565, the memorable day that marked the end of the Great siege, happened to be a day dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the people of Senglea, though weighed down by their recent ordeal, felt they should erect a church in honour of the Virgin’s Birth, that would serve as a monument of this great victory. After fifteen years their wish was fulfilled with the completion of the church in 1580. We are not certain who the architect that designed the church was, though probably it was Vittorio Gassar. Just one year later, that is in 1581, Senglea was erected as an independent parish with Don Antonio de Nicolaci its first parish priest.

   On February 19, 1575, ten years after the Great Siege, Mr. Pietro Dusina, the Apostolic Visitor, paid a visit to Senglea, which at the time still formed part of the Parish of Birgu. Don Antonio Vassallo, parish priest of Birgu, had pretty little information to give Mgr Dusina about the pastoral work being done at Senglea, though he told him that every Sunday one Mass was said in the church of St. Julian. The Apostolic Visitor was also informed that there were certain bequests connected with the celebration of this Mass.

    In the opinion of Mgr. Dusina it was high time for a priest to live at Senglea, and that also means for his sustenance should be found. The Visitor also granted permission, for the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Oils to be kept in the church of St. Julian, but he made it clear that the right of the parish priest of Birgu on the church of St.Julian and its environments should not be encroached upon.

       On October 20th, 1585, four years after the erection of Senglea as an independent parish, Mgr. Ascanio Libertano, delegate of Bishop Gargallo, visited the parish of Senglea. He observed that, in spite of its being an independent parish, Senglea still depended on Birgu and the parish registers of Senglea were witness to this.

       In the Great Siege Senglea suffered extensive damages and the first residents of the city were impoverished in their struggle not to let their homeland fall in the hands of the enemy. Feeling that they deserved recompense for their sacrifices, in 1601 they begged the Order to cede the emphyteusis on the plots of land at Senglea. This lablet in the church  vestry recalls this concession.

       In the report of his April 28, 1602, visit to Senglea, Bishop Tommaso Gargallo said that the titular painting on wood featured the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, and SS. Peter and Paul in the upper tier. The Prelate went on to say that on the right side there were the altars of St.Joseph, founded by Andrea Cassar, and of Mary’s Assumption, incorporating SS. John and Catherine, founded by Lorenzo Falzon. The two other altars were dedicated to St Michael and St. Barbara. They were respectively founded by Giovanni Figon and Master Michele Greg. The altars on the opposite side belonged to: St. Mary Magdalene, with SS.Jerome and Francis of Assist incorporated in the picture this altar had been founded by Salvatore Camilleri. The altarpiece of the second altar founded by Antonio Battaglino, featured Mary’s Visitation and incorporated SS. John and Catherine, whilst the third altar in honor of the Annunciation, had been founded by Andrea Zammit.

    The last altar on the left side, founded by Giacomo Rispoli, was dedicated to St. Francis de Paule, patron saint of mariners.

    More details about this church of Senglea are found in the reports of the pastoral visits made by Bishop Cagliares in 1616, 1621 and 1631. According to these reports; annexed to the church there was a cemetery, with its door on the right side of the main altar.

   Bishop Cigliares also reported that besides the main altar there were five chapels and nine other altars. The church, front of which there was a small open area, had one bell-tower and just two bells.

    The report of the 1631 visit provides us with details about the titular statue which was repainted and gilded in the same year. This statue was accommodated in a niche on the altar of Our Lady of Help, and Leonardo deMaria. a captain of a galley with the Order of St. John, was responsible for this altar. Bishop Crigliares comments about the devotion enjoyed by this wooden statue. However the sculptor, who seems to have been a very capable craftsman, has never been identified.

    More details about the parish church of Senglea are provided in the reports of the pastoral visits made by Bishop Balaguer in 1637 and 1633, where the prelate refers to the enlargement of the church and its fraternities.

     Bishop Giacomo Molina visited Senglea on October22, 1679, when the locality was passing through very hard times after the desolation caused by the plague that had just devastated the Maltese Islands. The bishop provides information about the fraternities and asserts that there lived at the time at Senglea 3,455persous housed in 837 residences.

    Bishop Alpheran de Bussan, who had a long association with the parish church of Senglea, furnished us with several interesting details about what he observed in this parish church. Among other objects he alludes to the altars of St. Barbara, the Holy Trinity, Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Charity, St. Roque and St. Anne. In the report of his 1728 pastoral visit, he says that the church contained 14 altars and that the choir had been recently constructed. Some statues of the Passion of Jesus already existed at Senglea.

     In 1783 parish priest Don Salvatore Bonnici proposed that the church of Senglea be elevated to the dignity of a collegiate church. In spite of the opposition he encountered, on January 27, 1783, Bonnici formally petitioned Pope Pius VI to erect this collegiate at Senglea. On August 5th 1784, the main reasons for such an erection were formulated but the clergy Sodality and the Cathedral chapter dispatched their representatives to Rome to argue against certain points declared in Bonnici’s petition.

     There were then at Senglea 34 priests, 3 celibate clerics and 3 married clerics, while the religious community of St. Philip comprised 7 priests and a cleric.

     After all difficulties were overcome, with the precious help afforded by Mgr Vincenzo Labini, Bishop of Malta, and by Grand Master De Rohan, on May21, 1786, Pope Pius VI signed the Bull elevating the parish church of the Nativity of Mary at Senglea to the dignity of a Collegiata Insignis. This special Bull is titled Exigit Apostolici Officii (The Apostolic Office having reflected upon). On September 7, the first canons were installed by Bishop Labini.

      In the early years of the 20th century the Chapter and the people of Senglea manifested a desire that their church be        honoured by the title of Basilica. The petition was formulated by Canon Goffredo Lubrano and Dom Mauro Inguanez. On September 21, 1920, this request was read by Archpriest Giuseppe Adami in the Capitular Hall, to be later presented to Archbishop Mauro Caruana, who forwarded it to the Vatican. On January 3, 1921, Pope Benedict XV issued the decree Ad Perennandam Memoriam (In perpetual memory) by means of which the Collegiate church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was honored with the title of a Basilica. On January 23, 1921, after it had arrived in Malta on January 9, the Pontiffs decree was read in the church, to the exultation of the Chapter and the parishioners. who did not hesitate to set up on the chancel a graceful and fitting tribune. This tribune, designed and executed by architect Andrea Vassallo, was erected in 1921, the same year of the issue of the papal decree.

      One of the immemorable events that took place in the city of Senglea in the 20th century was undoubtedly the Crowning of the statue of the Virgin Mary on September 4, 1921.  That day Mgr. Dom Mauro Caruana, Archbishop of Malta. assisted by Bishop Angelo Portelli and Bishop Giovanni Maria Camilleri, solemnly crowned the miraculous effigy of the Virgin Mary, so beloved by the people of Senglea. The rescript for this crowning had been issued from the Vatican on May 1, 1920. Preparations for the festive celebrations commemorating this crowning were immediately taken in hand, and similar festivities have been held since then.

           

      On June 11, 1940, the first aerial attack of the Second World War took place over Malta, with Senglea bearing the brunt of the enemy onslaught. During the bombardment of Cottonera on January 16, 1941, the capitular hall, the altar of Our Lady of the Chain, the transept of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Blessed Sacrament Oratory, were demolished. That fateful day, 27 Senglea residents, including History Professor Can. Giovanni Theuma, lost their lives. Only three days later, in another blitz, an enemy bomb fell on the central nave, causing large-scale devastation. After such a destruction, the most precious items in the church were hastily  transported to more secure places. The statues of the Virgin Mary and Christ the Redeemer were taken to the parish of Birkirkara.

   In April 1942, Senglea’s Collegiate Church received the last fatal blow when the dome with the tribune underneath it, and the main pilaster on the side of the pulpit, were razed to the ground. All the pilasters on the side of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel were dangerously shaken. The church’s apsidal cap and the Oratory ceiling were likewise badly damaged. After these catastrophes, Senglea’s church, considered as one of the most beautiful churches in the Maltese Islands, presented a very pitiable spectacle, with several sections reduced to mound’s of rubble. The clergy and the people of Senglea had lost their most cherished treasure. This was one of the worst tragedies to hit the City of Senglea in its millenarian history.

                                               

      After the end of the hostilities, the chapter of Senglea started preparations for the construction of a new church, with Can Francesco Abela selected as the Chapter’s delegate for such an arduous task. The War Damage Commission afforded its assistance in this construction and restoration project. Giuseppe Caruana was the architect chosen to direct the works, while master mason responsible for the construction, which started in 1946, was Giuseppe Sammut. The church façade, though not completely demolished, had been shaken so badly, that the need was felt to dismantle it and erect it anew.

              
            

      After the gargantuan efforts to erect the new church were over, Archbishop Mgr. Michele Gonzi consecrated it on Saturday, August 24, 1957 a day of widespread rejoicing for the people of Senglea. On the morrow, a Sunday, the statue of the Virgin Mary was solemnly transported from the church of St. Philip to the new parish church. The people of Senglea congregated in their thousands from all parts of the Maltese Islands to which they had been dispersed in the war, to participate in these two celebrations, which reminded them of Senglea’s glorious past. These events were commemorated on the church’s parvis before the statue was ushered into the church. Mgr. Raffaele Capurro, a well-known Senglean spellbinder, delivered a stirring address of welcome. That year’s feast was certainly a special one, as it was held once again in the new collegiate and Basilican church.

      The facade of the Collegiate and Basilican Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at Senglea, erected after the devastation of the  early 1940s during the Second World War. Master mason Giuseppe Sammut constructed this facade on a design by Victor Anastasi.
     This frontage was ready by 1954 and in the beginning of September, four bells were hoisted in one of the belfries to be followed later by another three.

   On the wishes of Pope Pius XII, who introduced in the ecclesiastical calendar the feast of Mary, Queen of Heaven, the year 1954 was declared a Marian Year. The residents of Senglea, availing themselves of the opportunity, placed a marble statue of Mary, Queen of Heaven, on the frontispiece.

   This statue had been carved in Italy on a design by Emvin Cremona, with expenses defrayed by Don PaoloCauchi and his sister Helen.                                                                    
   The statue was blessed on January 28, 1956 by Archpriest Gian. Carlo Burlo and installed on the frontispiece by Giuseppe Sammut.

       Since the earlier church at Senglea had been built as a monument of the astounding victory achieved in the Great Siege, the Latin inscription - MONUMENTUM INSIGINIS VICTORIAE AD. MDLXV- was placed high up under the cornice, together with two tablets recalling several of the Knights of St. John that perished on Fort St. Michael during the Great Siege of 1565.

      This tablet recalls the old church’s solemn consecration by Bishop Paolo Alpheran de Bussan on October 20th 1743.  After the havoc of the Second World War the church was rebuilt, and then consecrated by Archbishop Mgr. Michele Gonzi on August 24, 1957.


Before  1921

1921

Present Day

      The tribune, designed by Andrea Vassallo in a Renaissance style, was blessed by Malta's Vicar General, the Senglea-horn Bishop Mgr. Emanuele Galea.  After the war it was redesigned by Chev. Vincenzo Bonello, who also executed some modifications on it. Its marble works were carved by the Battelli Firm of Pietrasanta in Tuscany Italy, while the Ferdinando Stuflesser Firm of Ortisei was responsible for the woodworks. Its four angels were produced on a design by the Maltese sculptor Vincenzo Apap.  Apart from these angels the canopy is graced by four heraldic bearings of Pope Benedict XV, Archbishop Mauro Caruana, the Senglea Collegiate and Grand Master La Sengle. The columns’ plinths bear the effigies of sixteen saints associated with the Virgin Mary: four evangelists, four pontiffs, four doctors of the church and four founders of Religious Orders.