There are no Indult Latin Masses in Malta. However, there is a very ancient Byzantine Greek-Catholic Church there at which Catholics of the Roman Rite can fulfil their Sunday obligations.

TRADITIONAL GREEK CATHOLIC MASS

Our Lady of Damascus Greek-Catholic Church
132A Archbishop Street
Valletta, Malta
Pastor: Papas Vito Borgia

The Icon; Our Lady Of Damascus

In the church one can find the venerable and precious icon of Our Lady Of Damascus. It was brought by the Order Of St.John one of their most precious and sacred possessions to the island of Malta when overcome by the Turks, The order had to leave Rhodes in 1523. The icon became known as Our Lady Of Damascus because some of the knights when they first saw it, thought that they had seen it before in Damascus.

It was brought in Malta in 1530 with the treasure of the order. Grand Master Villers De L’Isle Adam placed it in the church of St. Catherine in Borgo del Castello. It remain there till 1587 when it was solemnly transported across the harbour, in the most glorious gallery of the Order, to the new city of Valletta where it was placed in the church Of Our Lady Of Damascus. Grand Master Jean De La Vallette was a fervent devotee of this Madonna. When the icon was taken to Valletta the Grand Master left his cap and sword on the steps of the alter as a votive offering.

Between 1963 and 1966 the icon was cleaned and restored in the General Institute of Art Restoration in Rome at the expense of the Italian government. The patient work of the restorers who removed layers of grime and successive over paintings accumulated over the centuries, brought the picture back to its original beauty.

After a study compiled by Papas Vito Borgia the following points must be highlighted:

1. The size of the icon is 147.5 x 102.5 which is suporior to any other icon of the same type existing.

2. That the archangel's life size on each side of the head of the Madonna, are found in no other icon, except in the Virgin of Tolga. The archangels half-lenght are common.

Papas Vito Borgia , pastor, states that this icon belongs to the style MONASTIC, from Cappodcia and Syria, which is austre, while the Virgin of Vladimir belongs to the style AULIC of Constantinople.

David Talbot Rice of Edinburg University, author of "Byzantine Art", calls our Icon "a thing of great beauty and historical beauty and historical importance in addition to be an expression of faith." He is inclined to beleive that this is even older than the Virgin of Vladimir (XII centuary).

Section A: Every-Sunday traditional latin masses: None.


Section B: Other than every-Sunday traditional latin masses: