Gudja

Assumption Parish Church

This parish church was built 1656/1666 on the plan of Tumas Dingli. This is the only church on the Maltese islands which has three belfries, the one on the side close to the dome built to the design of William Baker in 1709 when the church was enlarged. This third belfry holds a handsome clock made by Michelangelo Sapiano and contains a set of bells cast by John Warner and Sons of London while its top section is in the shape of an elegant round little temple topped by a cross held up by two angels. The church itself was built on the site previously occupied by an Annunciation church known as tal-Misrah (already functioning in 1575) and which was demolished in 1650. The new building took considerable time to reach completion as various difficulties hindered its progress. Finally in 1709 the new cruciform church was ready and was consecrated by Bishop Labini on the 11th December 1785.

Annunciation

This is the third church built on this site in 1754 by procurator Fr John Barbara. The facade is built in Doric style with a large Baroque window. In 1912, the belfry was added on the plans of Carlo Farrugia. The statues on each side are of St Anne and St Joachim. The church inside is in the form of a Greek cross. It was restored on the outside by the civil authorities in 2006.

Annunciation Ta' Durbies

A rural church of this dedication was situated in the neighbourhood known as Tal-Ghajn. When its canonical deconsecration was decreed in 1659, the altarpiece was transferred to the parish church.

Annunciation Ta' Brolli

At Birmiftuh. In 1575, this church was considered as the most important church existing then in Gudja. It had two churches abutting it, one dedicated to St Nicholas and another to St Marcianus. Its feast was made possible through a bequest recorded in the acts of Notary Giuseppe De Guevara on the 14th June 1568. Around 1636 it was enlarged. Fr Giovanni Barbara rebuilt this church between 1752 and 1755 and it was duly blessed on the 6th April 1755.

Assumption Birmiftuh

Birmiftuh was one of the ten parishes mentioned by Senator De Mello in a document he drew up in 1436. The old parish church (reduced in size in 1512) of Birmiftuh still exists but not the village. In 1663 the tabernacle was deconsecrated and the church abandoned. After its restoration, in 1762, Mons. B.Rull gave it back its ecclesiastical immunity. Lately the building was restored by 'Din l-Art Helwa' group and is open every first Sunday of each month in the morning.

Assumption

In 1575 this old church abutted another one of St Nicholas. In 1644, the Bishop sought to find someone to look after its maintenance. As no one was attending, this church was closed to public worship in 1658.

Assumption

In 1615, the altarpiece of a small Assumption chapel situated on the left hand side of the Birmiftuh parish church, was described as showing Our Lady of Grace. The Souls in Purgatory were also included in this painting.

Nativity of Our Lady

Canon Matthew Bartolo was obliged to celebrate Mass and sing vespers in this church on four Marian feasts, namely: Purification, Annunciation, Assumption and Nativity. This church was closed to public worship in 1658.

Nativity of Our Lady Birmiftuh

Near the main entrance of the old Birmiftuh parish church, there was this small chapel recorded from 1575 till 1615. Its feast however continued to be celebrated in this same church till 1692-93, when Bishop Cocco Palmieri preferred to have it transferred to the following Sunday in honour of the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin.

Our Lady of Loreto

On the outskirts of present day Gudja, known as Rahal il-Qadim, is the earliest site of an Our Lady of Loreto church. A wooden altarpiece still preserved today in its sacristy, is dated 1548 and includes the name of one of its prominent benefactors, a member of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the Prior of Auvergne, Fra Imbert de Molines. He may have been the founder of this same church. In 1575, Mgr Dusina attests the great devotion in which this shrine was held in his own time. Its feast was celebrated on the 8th September, coinciding with the liturgical feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. It was rebuilt in cruciform shape after the 1676 plague and again in 1820. A new altarpiece was also provided in 1693 substituting the 16th century wooden one. During WWII it was hit by bombs, but was repaired and reopened in 1943. Nowadays it is open every Sunday morning and marriages may be celebrated there.

St.Catherine

On this site existed a very old church, but the present one dates from 1661. Used as a store for parish church furnishings for a while, nowadays it is set up for Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

St.George

Limits of Birmiftuh, near the Parish church there used to be a chapel of this dedication according to Mons. Dusina's report of the mid 16th century. Nowadays no trace of it is left.