Liturgical manuscripts related to the rite of the Order of St. John located in the archives at the Wignacourt Museum Rabat, Malta

Abstract

The Wignacourt Museum is situated at the Parish Square, comer to College Street, in the heart of Rabat, the suburb of Malta's Old Capital. It is the official museum of St. Paul's Collegiate Church which stands adjacent to it and which houses St. Paul's Grotto in its underground. Located in this museum are a number of manuscripts connected with the particular liturgical rite of the Order of St John which were in use at St. Paul's Grotto and overstanding Collegiate Church of the Order. The principal aim of this dissertation is to list the various manuscripts located in the museum related to the liturgy of the Knights, as no such listing was ever undertaken before. It also consists in proving that the Hierosolymitan Rite still existed even after the departure of the Knights Hospitallers in 1798. It begins with the history of the Grotto and documents the request for the continuation of the rite. The dissertation then proceeds with a study of (i) a set of thirteen packs each containing u number of booklets forming the 'Directoria Divini Officii' (ii) a number of liturgical manuscripts grouped as Document 'A' (iii) some manuscripts by Canon Giovanni Gatt Said (iv) other miscellaneous manuscripts of unknown authors and (iv) codices with chant of the 'Passio'