This coming Wednesday 10th February, Malta will be celebrating the feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck. Although usually celebrated with particular fervour in Valletta, it is a public holiday across the whole country, for this feast has for centuries held a special significance for the Maltese people.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, in the year 60 AD, St. Paul was on a ship headed to Rome, where he was to face trial. At one point during the voyage, the ship was caught in a violent storm, which eventually led to the vessel foundering off the Maltese coast. St. Paul and everyone else aboard made it to shore safely, where they were welcomed and looked after by the locals. St. Paul remained here for three months, during which time it was claimed that he performed a number of miracles, but most importantly, he was also credited with introducing Christianity to Malta, and to have converted the local people.

This, at least, is what tradition claims. Some academics are more sceptical; for starters, the earliest archaeological evidence of Christianity in Malta has been dated to the 4th century AD, several hundred years after the shipwreck. One also has to bear in mind that following the Arab conquest in 870 AD, Islam would have become the dominant faith here for quite some time, before Malta was eventually re-Christianised. It was then, perhaps, in an attempt to emphasise Malta’s Christian roots while encouraging a breaking off from Islam, that some stories associated with St. Paul’s visit started to gain popularity. His cult grew and was strengthened even more with the arrival of the Knights of St. John, who found the perfect opportunity to win over the locals by championing their patron saint, not to mention that being in possession of a number of Pauline sanctuaries would also have increased their own prestige. Thus, with time, many Pauline legends sprung up.

1. The Site of the Shipwreck

One thing that has long been debated is the exact location of the shipwreck. According to tradition, this took place in St. Paul’s Bay, and more specifically near St. Paul’s Islands, where in 1844 a prominent statue of the saint was erected. Pope John Paul II even toured the area by boat during his visit to Malta in 1990. However, there is no hard evidence to back this up, and many studies have been carried out to glean what little information is contained in the Acts of the Apostles, in an attempt to identify the real location.

Back in the 1960s, a number of Roman-era anchors were found lying on the seabed just off St. Thomas Bay. These were claimed by some to have come from the shipwreck, especially because the location seemed to match some of the details mentioned by St. Luke. However, this hypothesis could not be proven.

More recently, in 2005, a similar anchor was discovered in Salina Bay. Although once again there is no way to prove that it was related to St. Paul, it did have carved inscriptions with the names of two Graeco-Egyptian gods: St. Paul is known to have been travelling on an Egyptian grain ship. Salina Bay was also an important Roman port since the sea used to come up all the way to the area of Burmarrad - another interesting point, as that is where it is traditionally believed that the survivors spent their first three days on Malta. Despite all these theories though, for now, at least, the real location of St. Paul’s shipwreck remains a mystery.

2. Għajn Rażul Fountain

An interesting legend is that linked to the Għajn Rażul fountain in St. Paul’s Bay. While its upper part, consisting of a statue of St. Paul inside a niche, was added by Grand Master Vilhena in 1725, it is not certain when the fountain was first erected. According to tradition, however, this was done on the spot were St. Paul made water come forth, in order to provide for the thirsty survivors of the shipwreck, simply by tapping the ground with his staff.

An interesting point is that the word ‘rasul’ in Arabic means ‘messenger’, which has been interpreted as a reference to St. Paul - God’s messenger - although it could also have originated from the first name of whoever originally owned the site. While the location of Għajn Rażul strengthens the claim that St. Paul’s Bay truly was where the saint came ashore, it is worth noting that the fountain was moved slightly from its original spot during road widening works in the 1900s.

3. The Church of the Bonfire

Another important site in St. Paul’s Bay is that known as the Church of the Bonfire, which is believed to have been constructed on the site where, as recounted by St. Luke, the Maltese lit a bonfire to help the survivors warm themselves up, shortly after they came ashore in the vicinity.

While it is not known exactly when the very first church was built on this site, several mentions in historic documents are evidence that it was one of the oldest churches in Malta, and it was known to attract a large number of pilgrims. The church was given particular prominence during the time of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, a pious man who demonstrated great devotion towards this particular saint. Wignacourt had the church rebuilt, probably to the designs of the architect V