The Chapel of St Matthew, popularly known as San Mattew Iż-Żgħir, literally meaning Saint Matthew the smaller, is a small

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

chapel located beside a larger church with the same name in an area known as '' il-Maqluba'' in Qrendi,

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 ...

. The use of the word the smaller is used that one would not confuse it with the larger St Matthew's church.

History

Origins and legend

The chapel of St Matthew has been in existence since at least the

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...

, probably dating back to the

11th century The 11th century is the period from 1001 ( MI) through 1100 ( MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium. In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. Th ...

. It is mentioned in a local legend said to have occurred in 1343. There are various versions of this legend however one of these versions says that all the people of the small village beside the chapel were living in sin and one day the whole village was consumed by the earth where a large pit was formed in place. The only building to escape this tragedy was the chapel of St Matthew in which an old pious woman was at the moment of the engulfment. However, most probably this large pit, a sinkhole, known as '' il-Maqluba'' was formed as a result of a violent storm that hit the island on November 14, 1343.

Documentation

Nonetheless, this chapel was not mentioned in Bishop De Mello's report of 1436 as existing at that time however noteworthy to mention is that the Bishop's report only mentioned parish churches, prebends, cononriers and benefices, thus the small chapel would not have been mentioned. The small chapel of St Matthew was also mentioned in inquisitor

Pietro Dusina Pietro Dusina was an Italian Roman Catholic priest from Brescia who was the inquisitor and apostolic delegate to Malta between 1574 and 1575. Dusina was nominated inquisitor of Malta by Pope Gregory XIII on 3 July 1574, and he arrived on the island ...

's report during his apostolic visit to Malta in 1575. Dusina describes that the chapel was equipped with all necessarily means to celebrate the divine office.

Building of a larger church

As the larger church was built between 1674 and 1682, the small chapel was annexed by a small stairs and doorway and was used as the crypt of the large church. Its size was greatly reduced with this annexation. The chapel's exterior is quite simple. It is built in a rectangular style with a small belfry on top. In 1942, as the larger church was severely damaged by an air raid, the small chapel's belfry was damaged as well which was later dismantled and never rebuilt. Malta - Qrendi - Misrah tal-Maqluba - Il-Maqluba 18 ies

Malta - Qrendi - Misrah tal-Maqluba - Il-Maqluba 18 ies

Interior

The chapel's interior is quite simple. It has one stone altar with the date 1897 inscribed on it. There is also a small statue of St Matthew on the altar. Just above of the altar there is a little apse decorated with a well-preserved fresco of a scallop shell. The interior is built in pointed archways, typical to medieval church buildings in

. A painting depicting St Matthew was also reported as being present in the chapel however no one knows what happened to this painting. "THE CHAPELS OF QRENDI"
, ''Qrendi parish church'', Malta. Retrieved on 16 September 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Matthew's Chapel, Iż-Żgħir Medieval Maltese architecture 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings Qrendi Roman Catholic chapels in Malta