An attribution to Francesco Noletti : some considerations

Abstract

On 20 November 1758, Canon Francesco Agius de Soldanis wrote a letter to his erudite friend Ignazio Saverio Mifsud describing the newly built Capuchin church and friary in Rabat, Gozo. A manuscript of ten folios, presently kept at the Floriana Capuchin archives, repeats nearly verbatim the content of the printed version of de Soldanis’ letter to Mifsud. It also includes some endnotes by the same anonymous author, furnishing further historical information about the Capuchin church and friary in Gozo. One of these endnotes refers to a crucifix venerated at the Capuchin church in Gozo. From de Soldanis’ letter we learn that this crucifix once belonged to the Knight Commendatore Fra Gabriele Miceli [de Micheli]. Following its peregrinations in Sicily and Malta, it was moved to different churches until it was allocated a permanent abode inside the Capuchin friary in Gozo, on 1 November 1746, where it continued to attract popular devotion because of its miraculous powers. [Excerpt]