The Chapel of St Anthony of Padua ( mt, Kappella ta' Sant'Antnin ta' Padova) is a Roman Catholic chapel located in Fort Manoel on

Manoel Island Manoel Island ( mt, Il-Gżira Manoel), formerly known as Bishop's Island ( mt, Il-Gżira tal-Isqof, it, Isola del Vescovo) or the ''Isolotto'', is a small island which forms part of the municipality of Gżira in Marsamxett Harbour, Malta. It is n ...

in Gżira, Malta. It was completed in 1727 as an integral part of the fort, and it was partially destroyed by aerial bombardment in 1942 during World War II. The chapel was reconstructed as part of a restoration project and it was completed in 2009.

History

James Robertson, Fort Manoel with statue of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena, 1856

Fort Manoel is a

star fort A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, literally meaning ''Italian outline'') is a fortification in a style that evolved during the early modern period of gunpowder when the cannon came to domin ...

which was constructed by the Order of St John in the 1720s on

. It was financed by and named after Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena. Churches were important features of Hospitaller fortifications due to the Order's religious nature, and the Chapel of St Anthony of Padua was designed as a central feature within the fort's main ''piazza''. The chapel was one of the first parts of the fort to be completed, and by 1727 its dome was being built and the interior was being decorated. It was consecrated on 9 June 1727 by Bishop Melchiore Alphera in the presence of Grand Master de Vilhena and various other knights and dignitaries including the fort's commander Gio Alessio Margon. It became a parish church in 1728, with Michele Angelo Pisani being appointed as its parish priest on 28 June 1729. While the fort was garrisoned by the Hospitallers, two masses were celebrated within the chapel every day. Two confraternities dedicated to St Anthony and

St Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

were also permitted to meet at the chapel in the 18th century. These were later merged into a single confraternity of St Anne, and it continued to use the chapel until 1775, when it was closed to the public after the

Rising of the Priests The Rising of the Priests ( mt, Ir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin), also known as the Maltese Rebellion of 1775 and the September 1775 Rebellion, was an uprising led by Maltese clergy against the Order of Saint John, who had sovereignty over Malta. Th ...

. The ''piazza'' of Fort Manoel, including the chapel and the Vilhena statue, was the subject of the earliest known photographs of Malta which were taken in 1840 by Horace Vernet while he was quarantined at the nearby Lazzaretto. It is documented that the photographs were taken in the presence of a group of guests including Governor Henry Bouverie, but today the photos themselves seem to be lost. The chapel was hit by aerial bombardment in 1942 during World War II. About two thirds of the building were destroyed, while some of the surviving stonework was stolen after the war. The chapel's crypt remained intact but it was vandalized when the fort was abandoned after being decommissioned in 1964. The building remained in ruins until it was reconstructed between 2007 and 2009 as part of a restoration project of the entire fort undertaken by MIDI plc. The crypt was also restored at this point. Today the chapel is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

Architecture

The chapel is built in the Baroque style, and it has a rectangular plan with a small dome. It has a classical façade with a central main doorway, four giant Ionic pilasters and two niches which formerly contained statues of saints Anthony of Padua and John the Baptist. The façade is topped by a triangular pediment which contains a defaced

escutcheon Escutcheon may refer to: * Escutcheon (heraldry), a shield or shield-shaped emblem, displaying a coat of arms * Escutcheon (furniture), a metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder on a door * (in medicine) the distribution of pubic ha ...

which formerly contained Vilhena's coat of arms, surrounded by carvings of military paraphernalia. The side elevation of the church is rather plain, containing Ionic pilasters, two doors and five windows. Crypt at Fort Manoel

The chapel contains a nave with a main altar and four side altars, and the rear part of the building includes a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

. A

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

with a single altar is located beneath the chapel, and the following people are known to have been buried there: *

Charles François de Mondion Charles François de Mondion (6 October 1681 – 25 December 1733) was a French architect and military engineer who was active in Hospitaller Malta in the early 18th century. He was also a member of the Order of Saint John. Career Mondion was bo ...

(1733) – architect and military engineer involved in the fort's design and construction * Mederico Attard (1754) * Aloisio de Lucia (1760) * Carmelo Galea (1771) * Emmanuel Solano (1803) – the fort's last chaplain

Artworks and relics

The chapel's main altarpiece, which depicts St Anthony of Padua, was relocated to the National Museum of Fine Arts (now MUŻA) in Valletta. Four other paintings from the chapel's secondary altars were destroyed during World War II. These depicted Saint Anne, the Immaculate Conception,

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

and the Assumption of Mary. The chapel contained several

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s, including the body of St Generoso which was placed within the main altar and a relic of the True Cross which was donated to the chapel by Vilhena.

References

External links

* {{commons category inline, Chapel of St Anthony of Padua (Fort Manoel)
Times of Malta
Baroque church buildings in Malta Buildings and structures in Malta destroyed during World War II Church buildings of the Knights Hospitaller Church buildings with domes Church ruins in Malta Gżira Limestone churches in Malta National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands Rebuilt buildings and structures in Malta Rebuilt churches Roman Catholic chapels in Malta Roman Catholic churches completed in 1727 Roman Catholic churches completed in 2009 Ruins of churches destroyed during World War II 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta