The Church of the Immaculate Conception is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church located in the town of

Żurrieq Żurrieq ( mt, Iż-Żurrieq ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta. It is one of the oldest towns in the country, and it has a population of 11,823 inhabitants as of March 2014. The first documentation about it being a parish dates back to ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

serving the area referred to as ''in-Nigret''.

History

The present church was built on the site of a previous chapel dedicated to the Annunciation which was deconsecrated by Bishop

Miguel Juan Balaguer Camarasa Miguel Juan Balaguer de Camarasa also known as Miguel Balaguer or Michele Balaguer (1597 – 5 December 1663) was a Spanish Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Malta from 1635 to 1663. Biography Miguel Juan Balaguer Camarasa was born i ...

on 24 November 1658. The church was built by commander James Togores de Valemuola and was finally consecrated by the parish priest of the village Reverend Karm Delicata on 11 October 1739. The chapel was built beside Togores Palace which was later converted into a monastery of nuns. The nuns manage and care for the church as well.

Interior and exterior

The church has two bell towers and a dome. There are two altars with the titular painting depicting the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

with

Saint James the Greater James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

, Saint Leonard and

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

dating from the 18th century."Church of Immaculate Conception"
''Zurrieq Parish Church''. Retrieved on 02 December 2016.

References

18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta Roman Catholic churches in Żurrieq National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands {{Europe-RC-church-stub