Old Church of St Sebastian, Qormi
The Old Church of St Sebastian (Maltese: Il-Knisja l-Qadima ta' San Bastjan), commonly known as il-knisja ż-żgħira[1] (Maltese for "the small church"), is a Roman Catholic church in Qormi, Malta, dedicated to Saint Sebastian. It was built between 1880 and 1890 near a statue of the saint which had been erected in 1815 to commemorate deliverance from a plague epidemic in 1813. It was a parish church between 1935 and the 1980s, when a larger parish church with the same dedication was built nearby. The building was only formally consecrated in 2019, and it is now used as an adoration chapel.
| Old Church of St Sebastian | |
|---|---|
Il-Knisja l-Qadima ta' San Bastjan | |
The church in 2019 | |
| 35°52′41.5″N 14°28′33″E / 35.878194°N 14.47583°E | |
| Location | Qormi, Malta |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| History | |
| Status | Church |
| Dedication | Saint Sebastian |
| Consecrated | 27 October 2019 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Years built | 1880–1890 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Limestone |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Malta |
| Parish | Qormi (St George) (until 1935) Qormi (St Sebastian) (since 1935) |
History Edit
The veneration of Saint Sebastian, a patron saint of the plague-stricken, began in Qormi in the 16th century,[2] and it was revived in the early 19th century as a result of a plague epidemic in 1813 which killed about 740 people in the town.[3][4] A statue of the saint which was sculpted by Ċikku and Girolamo Fabri (sometimes alternatively attributed to Vincenzo Dimech) was erected on the outskirts of the town in 1815.[2][5]
The area around the statue was built up in the 19th and 20th centuries,[4] and in 1873 a master mason Michele Angelo Azzopardi made a petition to Bishop Gaetano Pace Forno to construct a new church for the inhabitants of that area. The bishop granted permission,[2] and the church of St Sebastian was constructed near the statue between 1880 and 1890.[3] The site of the church had been previously occupied by a shop, which was reportedly dismantled at night after its owner had refused to vacate it.[4] It became a vice-parish church on 19 June 1918[2] and a separate parish in 1935–36.[a]
The 19th century church was too small for the area's population,[1] so a much larger parish church was built nearby between 1939 and 1980 and it was consecrated in 1986.[4] The old church was neglected after the new building was completed, but it was restored and reopened in 2011[4] and it is now used as an adoration chapel.[1] The building was formally consecrated as a church by Archbishop Charles Scicluna on 27 October 2019, almost 130 years after it had been completed.[6]
The church building is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.[3]
Artworks Edit
The church's altarpiece is a 19th-century painting entitled Martyrdom of St Sebastian by Lazzaro Pisani. A painting of Christ the Redeemer, also by Pisani, is located in a side altar. The church also includes sculptures of Christ Resurrected (1981) by Gerolamo Dingli and Jesus falling under the Cross (1985) by Alfred Camilleri Cauchi.[4]
Notes Edit
- ^ Bishop Mauro Caruana granted the title of parish church on 25 October 1935, but the first parish priest was not appointed until 5 January 1936.[2]
References Edit
- ^ a b c . Archdiocese of Malta. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Spiteri, Hilary (7 July 2019). . Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020.
- ^ a b c (PDF). National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. 27 August 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey (2011). (PDF). Valletta: Din l-Art Ħelwa. ISBN 9789995731021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2016.
- ^ (PDF). National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. 27 August 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2019.
- ^ Mifsud, Nigel (27 October 2019). . TVM. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019.
External links Edit
Media related to Old Church of St. Sebastian, Qormi at Wikimedia Commons