Christian catacombs cult centres and churches in Malta to 1530

Abstract

The thesis is concerned with a study of Christian archaeological remains in the Maltese Islands. It attempts an analytical study of the origins and development of the Christian church in Malta up to around 1500 A.D through a reassessment and interpretation of source material. Archaeology is considered against the back ground of documented history, and takes into account the textual and iconographic evidence. The study opens in A.D. 60 with a discussion of Malta's claim to being the is land of St Paul's shipwreck and traces the first tangible evidence for a Christian presence in the context of the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. Catacombs places are analysed and reinterpreted in the South Italian and North African influences. The long Muslim period starting in A.D. 870 with its negative evidence for the survival of Christianity is then considered and new hypothese: proposed on the reChristianization process in the later Middle Ages. Testimonies for Latin and Greek Christianity and for the eventual crystallization of a Western type Church with a bureachrautic setup on the Sicilian model conclude the thesis. The picture which emerges is substantially different from the stories proposed in standard histories of Malta and opens new possibilities for future research in the field.