St Paul

 

The shipwreck of St. Paul in 60 AD is recorded in some detail in the Acts of the Apostles, and a Pauline tradition of long standing supported by archaeological excavations carried out at San Pawl Milqghi prove beyond doubt that his arrival in Malta is a historical fact and it is also a fact that during his threemonth stay on the Island he sowed the first seeds of the Christian Religion to which Maltese people overwhelmingly belong, but inevitably, a number of legends have grown up over the centuries, some verging on the impossible, but others not without a grain of truth.

 

The Apostle Paul was, at this time, being conducted to Rome under arrest to be judged before Caesar as was his right as a Roman Citizen. Amongst the other prisoners was the physician St. Luke who recorded the account of that eventful journey. The nearest habitation to the place of shipwreck was the villa of Publius, the Chief Man of the Island. All those who had been shipwrecked spent three days there and after they had regained their strength they moved on to Melita the chief town of the island. In the city Paul cured Publius' father of a fever after which the Chief Man of the Island was converted to Christianity and later ordained Bishop by St. Paul.

 

St. Publius was the first bishop of Malta. After three months, by which time, the sea was again reckoned to be safe for navigation, and loaded with gifts from his Maltese friends, Saint Paul sailed away to Rome and to his subsequent martyrdom.

 

When the Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity and made it the official religion of the Empire it may be assumed that Christian worship was better organized and that a number of places of assembly were built in various places in the islands. Tradition has it that one such church was built on the site of the palace of Publius, where St. Paul had cured the father of the Chief Man of the Island. Many times rebuilt, the site is now occupied by the Cathedral Church dedicated to Saint Paul at Mdina.

 

The Empires End.

 

When the Roman Empire had been divided between the two sons of the Emperor Theodosius, Malta and its islands came under the Empire of the East which had its capital in remote Byzantium (modern day Istanbul). Very little is known of Maltese history regarding the four centuries starting from around the year 400 AD. This was the period of the breakup of the old Roman Empire, the time when Vandals and Goths carried all before them in Spain and in North Africa and, indeed, on the Italian mainland, the City of Rome itself was taken.The Byzantines, however, were more successful in warding off the attacks of the barbarians largely because of their powerful navy.

 

About the middle of the 6th century the lands under Byzantine domination were organized into a series of military provinces or Themes.