The Church of St Matthew, also known as San Mattew tal-Maqluba, 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 ...

church located in

Qrendi Qrendi () is a village in the Western Region, Malta, Western Region of Malta, with a population of 3,148 people as of October 2021. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siġġiewi. Within its boundaries are the two Neolithic temples of ...

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 ...

History

The church of St Matthew dates its origins to 1674. It is important not to confuse this church with the medieval and smaller chapel of St Matthew located just on the right hand side of the church. The larger church was finished by 1682. The church was blessed by the parish priest of Qrendi Dumink Formosa on September 12, 1683. San_Mattew_tal_Maqluba_church

On April 12, 1942, the church suffered extensive damage to the point of nearly collapsing as a result of a direct hit by Nazi bombs during World War II, it being so close to the nearby military airfield. The church was repaired by architect S. Privitera. A new facade was built and two small belfries were built instead of the central belfry.

Works of art

The main painting behind the high altar, attributed to

Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Ca ...

, depicts the martyrdom of St

Matthew the Apostle Matthew the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles, twelve apostles of Jesus. According to Christian traditions, he was also one of the four Evangelists as author of the Gospel of Matthew, and thus is also known as Matthew the Evangelist. Th ...

and dates from 1688. It is believed that this painting was commissioned by the French Commendatory Nicola’ Communette. In 1984 this painting was stolen by was later recovered and kept for some time in the cathedral museum. An organ gallery was also built in 1834."THE CHAPELS OF QRENDI"
, ''Qrendi parish church'', Malta. Retrieved on 15 September 2016.

References

* * * * 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta Qrendi {{Malta-church-stub