St.Paul's Islands
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St Paul's Island (
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
: ''Il-Gżejjer ta' San Pawl''), also known as Selmunett, is a small island off Selmun near the north-east of the main island of Malta. St Paul's Island is sometimes split into two islands by a shallow isthmus, and it is therefore sometimes referred to in the plural as St Paul's Islands. St Paul's Island has been uninhabited since World War II, and it is the second largest uninhabited island of Malta, having an area of .


History

The
Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...
tell the story of how
Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
was shipwrecked on an island which Chapter 28 identifies as Malta while on his way to Rome to face charges. Traditionally,
St. Paul's Bay St. Paul's Bay ( mt, San Pawl il-Baħar) is a town in the Northern Region of Malta, sixteen kilometres () northwest of the capital Valletta. Saint Paul's Bay is the largest town in the Northern Region and the seat of the Northern Regional Comm ...
and St Paul's Island are identified as the location for this shipwreck. However, given the prevalent North Easterly winds and the sandbar and sandy beach mentioned in the bible it is more likely the actual shipwreck took place at the area known as il Munxar which has a submerged reef and a sandy beach near St Thomas Bay in the SE part of the Island. Until 1575 the islands were named after the Salomone family, who owned a nearby land in Mellieha also called Selmun; the islands were named on maps as ''Isola Salomone'' and ''Isola Salomonetto'' and interpreted by the Maltese as ''Selmun'' and ''Selmunett''. On other maps the islands were referred to as ''Selmun's Islands'' and ''The Scroll of Selmun''. In 1576, Marco di Maria was being chased by
Barbary corsairs The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
off the coast of Malta. He navigated his vessel through the narrow channel between St Paul's Island and Malta, but when the pirates followed him they ran aground and were captured. As a result of this, the Grandmaster
Jean de la Cassière Fra' Jean l'Evesque de la Cassière (1502 – 21 December 1581) was the 51st Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 1572 to 1581. He commissioned the building of the Conventual Church of the Order (now Saint John's Co-Cathedral) in Vallett ...
gave St Paul's Islands to di Maria and the islands started to be called Tal-Barba Marku."Your Pocket Guide to Mellieha"
Places of Interest. Nature. p. 6-11. St. Paul's Islands. p. 8.
After the death of Marco, as decreed by the Grand Master, the island passed to his family. It first went to his son Giovanni de Maria and later to the nephew of Marco who was the son of Giavanni, whom was named Narduccio de Maria. Narduccio lost his life in a battle at sea in a fight against the Ottomans. The island was then transferred to the Religion, as the Order's possession. Sometime after 1649 a tower was built on the island by Grand Master Giovanni Paolo Lascaris. The tower was part of a contract, for the exchange of the island with the Casa della Giornata (now the site of the Royal Opera House) in Valletta that belonged to Michel de Torellas, the Prior of Catalonia.Denaro, Victor F. (1959)
Houses in Kingsway and Old Bakery Street, Valletta
. Melita historica. ''Journal of the Malta Historical Society''. 2 (4). p. 202.
In 1844 a prominent statue of Saint Paul was erected on the island. It was sculpted by Segismondo Dimech from Valletta and Salvatore Dimech from Lija. The statue was officially inaugurated and blessed on 21 September 1845. It was restored by Din l-Art Ħelwa a number of times, first in 1996, then in 2007, in 2014, and 2015. Until the 1930s, a farmer called Vincenzo Borg, nicknamed ''Ta' Bajdafin'', lived on the island in the tower built by Grandmaster Lascaris. He converted and used it as a farmhouse. Borg abandoned the dwelling, and the fields on the island, just before World War II started. The tower was a three-chambered structure with a heavily buttressed wall at its lower level. It was built similar to other
Lascaris towers The Laskaris or Lascaris ( el, Λάσκαρις, later Λάσκαρης) family was a Byzantine Greek noble family whose members formed the ruling dynasty of the Empire of Nicaea from 1204 to 1261 and remained among the senior nobility up to the d ...
. Since it was abandoned, the upper room has collapsed and the structure is now in ruins. Pope John Paul II visited the island by boat during his visit to Malta in 1990. In the same year, a statue named
Kristu tal-Baħħara ''Kristu tal-Baħħara'' (English: ''Christ of the Sailors'') is an underwater statue of Jesus Christ two kilometers off the coast of Malta. It was made by Maltese sculptor Alfred Camilleri Cauchi from concrete covered fiberglass. Cauchi was c ...
was sunk near St. Paul’s Island. After 10 years, the statue was moved from St. Paul's Bay to Qawra point because of deteriorating visibility in the water and a decline in divers visiting the site.


Geography

Saint Paul's Islands lie about 100 metres off the coast of Mellieħa, Malta. The island can split into two islands by a shallow isthmus according to the sea level, and when they are split the larger island on the west is known as ''Saint Paul's Island'' while the smaller one on the east is known as ''Quartz Island''. Both islands are made of upper coralline limestone. Saint Paul's Island's landscape is a maritime garigue dominated by golden samphire, Maltese fleabane and other species. Quartz Island is more exposed and has less vegetation than the main island. A population of the land snail '' Trochoidea spratti'' can be found on the islands. Wild rabbits used to live on the island but the population died off due to disease. A subspecies of the
Maltese wall lizard The filfola lizard or Maltese wall lizard (''Podarcis filfolensis'') is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. It is found in Italy (in the Pelagian Islands) and in the island group of Malta. Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type ...
known as '' Podarcis filfolensis kieselbachi'' also lived there but the population apparently became extinct in 2005.


References

Sciberras, A. & Schembri,P.J. (2008) Conservation Status of St Paul's Island Wall Lizard (Podarcis filfolensis kieselbachi). Herpetological Bulletin-Number 105 pgs.28-34


External links


Photos of St. Paul's Island at Malta Vista.net
{{Authority control Islands of Malta Uninhabited islands of Malta Mellieħa Natura 2000 in Malta