The old parish church of Xewkija : history, paintings, and sculpture

Abstract

This paper opens with a glimpse at the hamlet of Xewkija, the people living there, and the first chapels to be built in the area. This first chapter is concluded by the story of the foundation of the parish. The second chapter traces the history of the chapel of St John first referred to in 1608. A second larger church was raised next to it soon after the foundation of the parish church. This chapel and church made way for a baroque building in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. In the following years, the church was transformed into a baroque jewel. Its sculpted decorations in the local globigerina limestone were among the best in the Maltese Islands. The church was sadly pulled down to provide space for the present Rotunda church. The third chapter provides a description of the principal paintings adorning the church between the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The paintings are described and a critical appreciation is attempted to determine their artistic value and putting them in their proper historical context. This was done vis-a-vis other works in other parish churches in Malta and Gozo. The fourth chapter attempts to give a good description of the sculpture that was, the sculpture within the old church. By comparison to other sculptures, I attempted to determine certain stylistic affinities. This paper is to a large extent based on personal research mainly and carried out at the Episcopal Archives of Gozo (AEG), and at the Parish Archives of Xewkija (PAX). I also interviewed several old people who had good knowledge of the dismantled church. I also passed long hours observing the paintings and the sculpture that has been preserved. The problems encountered in the writing of the paper were twofold. The reports of pastoral visitations are written in Latin and, worse, in an almost illegible script. I have no knowledge of the Latin language and this fact together with the difficult script necessitated continuous help from the archivist that was not always available. The PAX proved a nut harder to crack. The archives holdings are not catalogued and poorly preserved. Worse, their transfer from one place to another has led to the loss of what is possible a huge amount of important documentation. Putting together the bits and pieces was certainly no easy task.