Old St Joseph's in the Citadel 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 the medieval walled

Cittadella Cittadella () is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around . There are fo ...

Victoria, Gozo Victoria (, meaning "the city Victoria"), also known among the native Maltese as Rabat (which is the name of the old town centre) or by its title Città Victoria, is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit of Malta, and the main town o ...

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

Records show that a chapel already existed on the site during the mid 16th century. In fact, when 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 ...

visited the Citadel he recalled that there were four churches dedicated to St Lawrence, St Nicholas, St John the Baptist's and Our Saviour's, respectively. The original St Joseph's was the one dedicated to St Nicholas. Its congregation grew when Dusina deconsecrated it Lawrence's in 1575 and the faithful turned to St Nicholas' which was described as the church which was best kept and equipped. The church plan was altered by orders of Bishop

Baldassare Cagliares Baldassare Cagliares ( 1575 – 4 August 1633) was a Maltese people, Maltese Roman Catholic prelate who was the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta, Bishop of Malta from 1615 until his death. Biography Baldassare Cagliares was born in Valletta ...

on plans by Vittorio Cassar. Works concluded by 1625. Consequently, the dedication of the church was changed from that of St Nicholas to St Joseph, the first church on the island to bear the name of St Joseph. A palace was also built adjacent to the church as a residence to Bishop Cagliares. On St Joseph's day, the Chapter of St Mary's Collegiate Church used to celebrate vespers every year from 1672. The church was severely damaged during the earthquake of 1693. Consequently, services no longer were held in the church and it was abandoned. It was only in 1930 that interest was awaken to restore the chapel. The lieutenant Governor of Malta, Sir Harry Luke expressed interest in restoring buildings which had historic value. Restoration works were at a halt when Sir Luke was transferred somewhere else. In 1973 restoration works commenced once more and works were completed by 19 March 1975. The church was blessed by Bishop Nikol Joseph Cauchi on August 15, 1976.Busuttil, R
"Il-Knisja ta’ San Ġużepp “Il-Qadim” ~ Ċittadella, Għawdex ~"
''Kappelli Maltin''. Retrieved on 27 May 2017.

References

{{Citta Victoria Roman Catholic churches in Malta Victoria, Gozo National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands