Church of St Augustine, Victoria Gozo

Church of St Augustine
Church of St Augustine
	Knisja ta' Sant' Wistin
	Façade of the Church of St Augustine
	Church of St Augustine Location within Malta
	36°02′32.9″N14°14′13.0″E / 36.042472°N 14.236944°E Coordinates: 36°02′32.9″N14°14′13.0″E / 36.042472°N 14.236944°E
Location	Victoria, Gozo
Country	Malta
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Conventual Church
Founded	1492
Founder(s)	Jacob de Leo Provincial
Dedication	St Augustine of Hippo
Consecrated	12 May 1782
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Church
Style	Baroque
Completed	1666
Specifications
Number of spires	1
Administration
Parish	St George's Parish Victoria
Diocese	Gozo
Province	Malta
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Mario Grech
Rector	Felix Buttigieg

Last updated November 10, 2019

The Church of St Augustine is a Roman Catholic church building in Victoria, Gozo, Malta, situated in St Augustine's Square. The church is part of the Augustinian monastery situated on its left side.

Victoria, also known among the native Maltese as Rabat or by its title Città Victoria, is the capital city of Gozo, the second largest island of Malta. The city has a total population of 6,901, and by population, is the largest locality in Gozo.

Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. With a population of about 475,000 over an area of 316 km² (122 sq mi), Malta is the world's tenth smallest and fifth most densely populated sovereign country. Its capital is Valletta, which is the smallest national capital in the European Union by area at 0.8 km². The official languages are Maltese and English, with Maltese officially recognised as the national language and the only Semitic language in the European Union.

Order of Saint Augustine Catholic order of mendicant friars

The Order of Saint Augustine, generally called Augustinians or Austin Friars, is a Catholic religious order. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremetical orders in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of St. Augustine, written by St. Augustine of Hippo in the 5th Century.

Origins

The order of St Augustine is the oldest religious order in Gozo. Probably the Augustinian order in Gozo was the first such order to establish permanent residence in Malta. Before establishing themselves in Victoria the order lived in Xagħra near a small church dedicated to Our Lady of the Seven Joys. The earliest mention of the Victoria monastery and church date to 1435 but some researchers claim that the monastery already existed in 1260. In October 1652 Pope Innocent X ordered the monastery and church to be closed but they were reopened after 4 months through the intervention of Grand Master Giovanni Paolo Lascaris.^[1]

Gozo, known locally as Għawdex and in antiquity as Gaulos, is an island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of Malta. After the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago. Compared to its southeastern neighbour, Gozo is more rural and known for its scenic hills, which are featured on its coat of arms.

Xagħra is a town on the island of Gozo in Malta. It is one of the earliest inhabited parts of Gozo, being home to the Ġgantija megalithic temples which date back to the year 3600BC and the Xagħra Stone Circle. Natural underground features such as Xerri's Grotto and Ninu's Cave can be found in this town, along with Calypso's Cave which overlooks the red sandy beach of Ramla. It is one of the largest towns in Gozo and is situated to the North-East of the Gozo capital Victoria, having a population of 4,129 inhabitants as of January 2019. Xagħra is a popular tourist attraction, in view of its historical heritage, lively Victory Square, and the thousands who flock to Ramla Bay in summer and to the temples all year round. During the British period, Xagħra was also known as Casal Caccia.

Pope Innocent X, born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in 1655.

Enlargement

In the 17th century the church was rebuilt and the monastery enlarged. The church was finished sometime between 1662 till 1666. The church was consecrated by the Bishop of Malta, Vincenzo Labini on May 12, 1782. The works on the monastery were finished by 1717.^[2]

Vincenzo Labini was an Italian archbishop who served as Bishop of Malta from 1780 till 1807.

Works of art

The main attraction of this church is the titular altar piece depicting Augustine of Hippo, John the Baptist and William I, Duke of Aquitaine. It was painted by Mattia Preti in 1694 and paid by Giovanni Gurgion.^[3] In 1836 the corpse of St. Dionisia was brought from Rome and placed beneath the third lateral altar. The icon of the Blessed Virgin of Good Counsel on the main altar was brought from Rome in 1765. In 2007 some thieves stole a number of priceless ornaments that adorned the image.^[4]

Augustine of Hippo was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of the Western Church and Western philosophy, and indirectly all of Western Christianity. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius in North Africa and is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church for his writings in the Patristic Period. Among his most important works are The City of God, De doctrina Christiana, and Confessions.

John the Baptist was a Hebrew itinerant preacher in the early 1^st century AD. Other titles for John include John the Forerunner in Eastern Christianity, John the Immerser in some Baptist traditions, and "the prophet John (Yaḥyā)" in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively called John the Baptizer.

William I, Duke of Aquitaine Frankish duke

William I, called the Pious, was the Count of Auvergne from 886 and Duke of Aquitaine from 893, succeeding the Poitevin ruler Ebalus Manser. He made numerous monastic foundations, most important among them the foundation of Cluny Abbey on 11 September 910.

The church building is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.^[5]

The National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands (NICPMI) is a heritage register listing the cultural property of Malta. The inventory includes properties such as archaeological sites, fortifications, religious buildings, monuments and other buildings. The NICPMI is under the responsibility of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH) which was founded in 2002 to replace the Antiquities Act. The NICPMI was established on 16 December 2011.

Related Research Articles

Roman Catholic Diocese of Gozo diocese of the Catholic Church

The Diocese of Gozo , is a Latin bishopric (diocese) of the Catholic Church in Malta, and the only suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Malta, together covering the insular state.

Cittadella (Gozo) citadel in Victoria, Gozo

The Cittadella, also known as the Castello, is the citadel of Victoria on the island of Gozo, Malta. The area has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, and the site now occupied by the Cittadella is believed to have been the acropolis of the Punic-Roman city of Gaulos or Glauconis Civitas.

St Augustine Church is one of the churches built during the creation of the new city of Valletta, Malta.

St. George's Basilica or the Basilica and Collegiate Parish Church of Saint George, also simply known as San Ġorġ in Maltese, is a historic Baroque church situated in the middle of Victoria, the ancient "Ħaġar" – the capital of Gozo, the second largest island in the Maltese archipelago, and is surrounded by a maze of old narrow streets and alleys. Today's basilica was built between 1672 and 1678.

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The Church of the Nativity of Our Lady more commonly known in Maltese as Ta' Savina is a church situated in the heart of Victoria, in the island of Gozo, part of the Maltese archipelago.

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References

↑ Bezzina, Joseph. "Main Attractions" Archived 2014-10-19 at the Wayback Machine , Victoria Local Council, Malta, 2011. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.
↑ "St. Augustine Convent" Archived 2014-10-19 at the Wayback Machine , Malta, 2013. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.
↑ Calleja, Thomas. "Churches of Malta - St Augustine Convent - Victoria" Archived 2014-09-24 at the Wayback Machine , Malta. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.
↑ Cauchi, Mark. "Theft from St Augustine's", Times of Malta , Malta, 11 August 2007. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.
↑ "Church of St Augustine" (PDF). National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2015.

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[1] Bezzina, Joseph. "Main Attractions" Archived 2014-10-19 at the Wayback Machine , Victoria Local Council, Malta, 2011. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.

[2] "St. Augustine Convent" Archived 2014-10-19 at the Wayback Machine , Malta, 2013. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.

[3] Calleja, Thomas. "Churches of Malta - St Augustine Convent - Victoria" Archived 2014-09-24 at the Wayback Machine , Malta. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.

[4] Cauchi, Mark. "Theft from St Augustine's", Times of Malta , Malta, 11 August 2007. Retrieved on 19 October 2014.

[5] "Church of St Augustine" (PDF). National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2015.