Chapel Of St Basil, Mqabba
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St Basil's Chapel is a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
medieval church located in
Mqabba Mqabba () is a town in the Western Region of Malta. It has a traditional Maltese village layout, with a population of about 3,339 inhabitants, as of January 2019. The focal point is the Parish Church of the Assumption, found at the core of the v ...
,
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
. It is the only church building in Malta dedicated to
St Basil the Great Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (330 – 1 or 2 January 379) was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370 until his death in 379. He was an influential theologian who suppor ...
.


History

This chapel was built in 1486 however it was enlarged three times. The present size of the chapel was completed by 1515, commemorated by the inscription of the date on the main painting of the chapel. In 1575 the chapel was visited by 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 isl ...
on his apostolic visit to Malta who reported that it was the biggest church in
Mqabba Mqabba () is a town in the Western Region of Malta. It has a traditional Maltese village layout, with a population of about 3,339 inhabitants, as of January 2019. The focal point is the Parish Church of the Assumption, found at the core of the v ...
and that it had an altar, a main painting and wooden doors. In 1598, the church served as the parish church of Mqabba and was temporary renamed as St Mary's. In 1680 Bishop
Miguel Jerónimo de Molina Miguel Jerónimo de Molina y Aragonés (7 October 1638 – 31 August 1698) was a Spanish prelate who was Bishop of Malta from 1678 to 1682 when he was transferred to the Diocese of Lleida in Catalonia, Spain. Early years Molina was born in Fort ...
visited the church and commented that the church was important to the local people and that it was the main church of the village. In the plague epidemic of 1676, victims of the disease were buried both in and outside the church in the yard in front of the church which today is covered in concrete. During World War II as a result of the bombing of the parish church of the Assumption of Mqabba, the church of St Basil, once more, became the parish church of Mqabba. The church was restored in 2007.


Interior

The chapel's interior consists of a number of pointed arches, typical to medieval church architecture. The painting above the high altar dates to 1677 however it lacks any artistic value. It depicts God the Father,
Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...
, Mary with Jesus, and the poor souls together with St Basil and
Saint Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79; traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327), also called Rock in English, was a Majorcan Catholic confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he was especially invo ...
. The year 1515 is inscribed on the painting commemorating the blessing of the church. There is also one altar.Farrugia, Johnathan
"Il-Knisja ta’ San Bażilju ~ Imqabba ~"
''Kappelli Maltin''. Retrieved on 18 September 2016.


References

{{reflist 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta Medieval Maltese architecture Roman Catholic chapels in Malta Medieval churches Mqabba National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands