Saint Paul in Malta : the Bible, documents, tradition

Abstract

Malta's connection with St. Paul the Apostle, has so dearly been treasured as a glorious event in our national history that publications highlighting it are always welcome. The more so when theories are from time to time propounded that deny such a connection and deprive us of such a glory. Fr. Felix Sammut's short dissertation about St. Paul's presence in Malta, published by RELIGJON U HAJJA is very opportune. The topic has once more come to the fore a couple of years ago through the publication of Dr. Heinz Warnecke's doctoral dissertation on St. Paul's voyage to Rome (Stuttgart 1988). The author, a German, came out with the theory that Melite, mentioned by St. Luke inActs as the island on which the ship conveying Paul ran aground, was not Malta on the Mediterranean but Kephallenia (Cepha/onia) in Western Greece. The islanders of Cephalonia, who never enjoyed in their history a local tradition comparable to that of the Maltese, hailed Warnecke's thesis as an exceptional gift and honoured the author with a great celebration. But Warnecke's contention has not gone unchallenged. Maltese writers have voiced the inacceptability of Warnecke's arguments in local newspapers. Scientific writings are meanwhile coming along. Hailing from St. Paul's Bay, the site to which tradition tied the eventful shipwreck of St. Paul, and himself a cultivator of Pauline traditions, Fr. Sammut decided to join the chorus of defenders of Malta's glorious Pauline heritage. Having composed this dissertation before Warnecke's thesis appeared, Fr. Sammut is not directly replying to Warnecke. Since, however, his treatment of the main event contains critical points on which Warnecke's arguments are deemed defective, Fr. Sammut's writing retains also now its validity as an answer. Moreover, since Warnecke himself, in a public forum at the German Embassy in Malta (1989), admitted that he made no researches on the Maltese traditions, Fr. Sammut's writing counterbalances Warnecke's omissions. Fr. Sammut's presentation of the traditions, though not entirely satisfying rigorous scientific methodology, is not lacking in commendable arguments and much common sense. A good amount of scattered information about previous writers or facts has been gathered and presented to the public at large to be pondered upon. Fr. Sammut's main interest lies in the cultivation and the preservation of our National Heritage, and in our view he has to be thanked for his undertaking, so useful for the general public. The euligistic tone which pervades his dealing with the topic is understandable as a supereffluence of his long pondering on the divine "must" that brought Paul to Malta. In Luke's theology this "must" runs parallel to Jesus' "must" in undergoing the sufferings of his redemptive Passion. And this is the general message of the present writing.