“And we must come unto a certain island……………And when we had escaped (drowning), then we knew that the island was called Melita.” From Chapter 27/28 of the Acts of the Apostles.
There is no other writing in the holy scripture which describes an event in such detail as the narrative found in the Acts of the Apostles describing the shipwreck of St Paul and his landing on the Maltese shore (Malta was then called Melita). The narrative is by St Luke, one of the Apostles, who was accompanying St Paul to Rome. Before leaving the Island after some 3 months of preaching, Paul managed to convert the locals to Christianity. This took place in 60 A.D. and, apart from a 150 year period between the 9th and 11th centuries when the Maltese people were forced to convert to Islam by their Muslim occupiers, Malta has continued to embrace the religion to this day.
The feast which falls on 10th February of each year and is a public holiday, is celebrated in the Valletta Parish Church dedicated to St Paul’s Shipwreck with great pomp. In the picture is Valletta’s main road, Republic Street, decked out for the feast (notwithstanding the rainy weather).
Thank you so much for looking and for your nice comments on yesterday’s picture. Thank you especially for sympathy messages. For those who have been following me lately I must say that my dad passed away 4 months ago – the pain for the loss is now over but the memories are still and will continue to be very strong.
I'm really enjoying seeing malta through yopur eyes. This scene is very interesting supported by its informative commentary. Thank you for the time and effort.
A great shot of these huge banners. I see it is raining, which must increase the weight of them considerably. Thanks for all the additional information, I learn so much from your shots. Sounds like your great memories from your dad, will always be with you.
