The Church and Monastery of St Peter ( mt, Il-knisja u Monasteru ta' San Pietru) is a
Catholic Benedictine monastery for
Cloistered nuns located in the medieval city of
Mdina
Mdina ( mt, L-Imdina ; phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤈, Maleṭ; grc, Μελίττη, Melite (ancient city), Melíttē; ar, مدينة, Madīnah; ), also known by its Italian-language titles ("Old City") and ("Notable City"), is a fortifications of Mdin ...
,
Malta. The adjacent church is dedicated to St Peter and
St Benedict.
History
It is not known when the monastery was founded however it is known that the first nuns in Malta arrived in the early
15th century
The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian dates from 1 January 1401 ( MCDI) to 31 December 1500 ( MD).
In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the early modern period.
M ...
. Thus the monastery of St Peter was established sometime around 1418. In 1555 Bishop Cubelles of Malta mentions that the chapel of the monastery was endowed with gold and silver and all the necessarily objects required for worship. The present church as seen today was renovated around 1625 through the initiatives of Bishop
Baldassare Cagliares
Baldassare Cagliares ( 1575 – 4 August 1633) was a Maltese Roman Catholic prelate who was the Bishop of Malta from 1615 until his death.
Biography
Baldassare Cagliares was born in Valletta in around 1575; this year is approximate and the exa ...
.
[Brincat, A. M]
"San Pietru u San Benedettu ~ Imdina ~"
''Kappelli Maltin''. Retrieved on 16 April 2017.
Interior of the church
The altarpiece, dating from 1682, depicts the Madonna and child with
Saint Peter,
St Benedict and
St Scholastica. It is the work of
Mattia Preti. Other works depict the
Resurrection of Jesus and
Our Lady of the Pillar
Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 4 ...
, the work of
Francesco Zahra. The chapel also includes the remains of Blessed
Maria Adeodata Pisani who was a cloistered nun who lived in the monastery in the middle of the 19th century. Blessed Maria Adeodata was beatified by
Pope John Paul II in 2001.
References
{{Mdina
17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta
Mdina
National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands