31/08/2026
Il-knisja u l-monasteru tal-Maddalena li darba kienu jeżistu fi Triq il-Merkanti, kienu jservu bħala kenn għal nisa żgħażagħ foqra, iltiema, abbandunati, kif ukoll prostituti li kienu nidmu minn ħajjithom. Mhux ħafna nies jafu bl-istorja mudlama ta’ din il-binja, li minnha llum fadal biss il-knisja.
Il-knisja ta’ Santa Marija Maddalena waqgħet fi stat ta’ abbandun wara l-aħħar gwerra u sussegwentement ġiet dekonsekrata. Il-monasteru kellu destin saħansitra agħar u nqered waqt attakk mill-ajru fl-1941 (ara t-tieni ritratt). Aktar t**d, flok il-monasteru nbniet skola primarja tal-Gvern.
Il-knisja tal-Maddalena nbniet għall-ewwel darba mill-Gran Mastru Antione de Paule bejn l-1623 u l-1636, biswit il-kunvent tas-sorijiet tal-Maddalena li l-Gran Mastru Verdalle kien bena fl-1595, fin-naħa t’isfel ta’ Triq il-Merkanti, il-Belt Valletta. Il-kunvent, li dam jeżisti għal 203 sena eżatt fuq wara tal-knisja, kien tas-sorijiet tal-klawsura tal-Maddalena, magħrufa bħala r-Repentini.
Huma ngħaqdu mas-sorijiet ta’ Santa Katerina wara ordni ta’ Napuljun Bonaparte fit-23 ta’ Lulju 1798, meta t-truppi Franċiżi tiegħu, armati bil-bajjunetti, ħarġu lis-sorijiet mill-kunvent u serqu l-ġid kollu li sabu
Napuljun kien joqgħod fil-Palazz Parisio, fit-tarf l-ieħor ta’ Triq il-Merkanti, fejn baqa għal sebat ijiem mimlija ġrajjiet fl-istorja tal-pajjiż, mit-12 sat-18 ta’ Ġunju 1798, wara l-ħakma ta’ Malta.
Aktar rakkonti u storja ta’ din il-binja issibuhom bl-Ingliż hawn isfel 👇
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The church and nearby Magdalene monastery that once existed in Merchants Street served as an asylum for poor, orphaned, abandoned young women and penitent prostitutes. Not many people know about this building’s dark history.
St. Magdalene church fell into a state of neglect after the last war and was subsequently deconsecrated. The monastery suffered an even worse fate and was destroyed by an air raid bombing in 1941 (see photo 2). It was later replaced by a government primary school.
The church of St. Mary Magdalene was originally built by Grand Master Antione de Paule between 1623 and 1636 adjacent to the convent of the nuns of the Maddalena that Grand Master Verdalle had built in 1595 in lower Merchant’s Street, Valletta. The convent that existed for 203 years at the very back of the church belonged to the cloistered Magdalene nuns known as ir-Repentini. They joined the nuns of St. Catherine following an order by Napoleon Bonaparte on the 23rd of July 1798 when his French troops armed with bayonets moved the nuns out, stealing all the monastery’s wealth. Napoleon took residence in Palazzo Parisio at the other end of Merchant’s Street for seven eventful days in the history of the country, June 12th to 18th of 1798, following the capture of Malta.
THE MAGDALENE MONASTRY
After the creation of the Ciantar Foundation, Donna Girolama Ciantar left a legacy to her universal heirs, as recorded by notary Ġan Dumink Delucia on the 4th of August 1618. She left a rich beneficiary to eight young women with the Ciantar surname who wished to become nuns. Women who hailed from Siġġiewi were given priority following the death of one of the nuns in that village who had left this wish in her testament. The nuns moved from the Santa Clara monastery to St. Magdalene’s monastery next to the Magdalene church in Merchant’s Street when the older monastery close to St. Ursula's was deemed unsuitable to live in by Inquisitor Innocenzo del Bufalo de Cancellieri during a visit in 1596.
ORIGINS OF THE MAGDALENE CHURCH
While most Magdalene monasteries were not wealthy, Malta's Magdalene sisters were indeed. In 1602 Pope Clement VIII gave the house the rights to one fifth of the goods and estates of deceased prostitutes in Malta. This changed the financial status of the nuns’ order, and it soon became the richest monastery in Malta.
CLOISTERED MONASTERIES UNDER THE KNIGHTS
Cloistered monasteries of the Magdalene nuns were in the past often located in the vicinity of ports. In these areas the oldest trade in the world, as it is known, was strong. Malta was no exception and the situation was exacerbated with the arrival of the Knights of the Order of St. John in 1530, when a number of ‘filles de joie’ followed them from their previous headquarters in Rhodes. The first Magdalene monastery was established at the end of the 16th century by Grand Master Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle.
ELITIST
Tales, scandals and conflicts at the ‘stylish’ Magdalene monastery - By Fiona Vella (1).
The new monastery of St. Magdalene’s in Valletta was built in style and fine luxury and was even equipped with its own water system and fountain. The adjacent church, also named after Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, was decorated with paintings by the most renowned artists of the time, such as Filippo Paladini and Mattia Preti. The previous critical financial condition of the monastery was dealt with by new regulations which comprised annual subsidies by the Order, financing by the Girolama Ciantar foundation, dowries brought over by the nuns, donations and the aforementioned tax of one-fifth of all the wealth left by deceased ‘street girls’ in Malta. These new arrangements attracted females from richer families who decided to join this congregation, leading to an elitist system among the nuns. Whilst the higher-level nuns administered the wealth of the monastery, the subordinate nuns dealt with domestic chores, a situation that often led to conflict. Trouble also arose when the monastery's regulations were bent to cater for particular situations which at times made the nuns retaliate in a scandalous way. A case in point was when they tried to poison a pregnant girl whom they had been constrained to accept in the monastery (1).
POWER & INFLUENCE: THE CASE OF A FORMER GRAND MASTER’S MISTRESS
Over the years, the power and influence of the Magdalene nuns increased considerably especially with the inclusion of a number of prominent women. One of these was the repentant nun Dorothea Valenti, a former mistress of Grand Master Antoine de Paule, who brought a large sum of money and her three-year-old daughter Anna with her to the monastery. Since children were prohibited from living with these nuns, Valenti made a special arrangement with Pope Urban VIII to allow the girl to stay at the monastery on condition that she became a cloistered nun at her adolescence. The girl did take the veil but she eventually obtained a dispensation from her vows and left the monastery under the name of Anna Pit**d (1).
THE CHURCH & MONASTERY DURING THE FRENCH INTERLUDE
With the arrival of the French in 1798, Napoleon Buonaparte ordered the nuns to move out of the monastery in a letter addressed to the Madre Badessa Diodata Novi. The French took all the monastery’s wealth and properties and the nuns had to move to St. Catherine’s monastery accompanied by French soldiers armed with bayonets. The last Magdalene nun died at St. Catherine’s in Republic Street, Valletta in 1846.
MYSTERY AROUND AN OLD CRYPT
During the Second World War, the monastery was severely damaged by bombing and it was eventually replaced by Valletta's primary school, a building still present today. The Magdalene church survived but for several years it was left in an abandoned state and deconsecrated until it was restored in 2015.
Yet a mystery about this church still waits to be resolved. In 1866, during the construction of the adjacent school, some of the workers came upon a crypt at the rear of the church. A detailed report by Achille Ferris mentions the refined architectural features of this crypt and the remains of buried nuns within, one of whom was still wearing a habit. Till now, this crypt has not been located.
BRITISH PERIOD
The church later served Catholic soldiers stationed in Fort St. Elmo as well as navy families from the Camerata barracks across the road. The monastery was destroyed by enemy action in 1941 during World War Two and it was never rebuilt. A government primary school was built instead.
ARCHITECTURE
The church is rather square and has a very plain exposed side only containing two windows set within the pilastered corners. Its façade is built in a rather Mannerist style with the central bay set within the square frame of the building. It consists of three bays on two levels. The central bay narrows at the upper level and is flanked by upturned curved attached buttresses. The façade has double paired Doric pilasters on the flanks of the portal. The portal has an elaborate architrave topped with a broken swan neck pediment, above which is a round light window. At second level is a central rectangular window. At roof level above the central bay is a triangular pediment with a stone cross set on a mount. The corners on both levels are pilastered and connected to the bays by the corniced fascia and the imposing Doric entablature along the front, which projects and recedes in relation to the underlying pilasters.
RECENT TIMES
The church spent years in a neglected state and was eventually deconsecrated. It was used as a store for carnival floats until 2006, when it was vacated.
RESTORATION
Grand Master Nicola Cottoner renovated St. Magdalene’s church in 1660 and in 1748 it was the turn of Grand Master Pinto de Fonsceca to carry out its second restoration.
It was partially restored in 2008 before a more significant restoration project was completed in 2015, upon which Apostolic Administrator Mgr. Charles Scicluna blessed the church. Work was carried out both on the interior and exterior following years of neglect, during which time the church had also been deconsecrated.
MEPA scheduled the church of St. Mary Magdalene as a Grade 1 national monument as per Government Notice number 276/08 in the Government Gazette dated March 28.
© Kappa Vision.
References:
- (1) Fiona Vella and Oliver Gatt, “Bizarre Malta - Mysterious, quirky, wonderful”, from the chapter, ‘Nuns and pertinent prostitutes - The Magdalene Monastery, Valletta,” BDL Publishing, 2022;
- (2) Times of Malta, “Inauguration of restored Valletta church,” 22 February 2015;
- (3) Times of Malta, “Church of St. Mary Magdalene - One World - Protecting the most significant buildings, monuments and features of Valletta (65),” 30 December 2008;
- (4) Alfie Guillaumier, “Bliet u rħula Maltin”, Volume 2, 2002, Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta;
- (5) Paul Cassar, “Dr. Agostino Naudi M. D.,” Heritage magazine, Pages 146-148.
