In the 16th century, the rural village of Ħal-Għargħur became an independent parish for 3 brief years. It’s unusual that someone thought it should be independent and changed their mind a few years later.

This article explains the village politics behind the situation, and how Ħal-Għargħur became a parish.

The 16th-century town of Naxxar

Records don’t show the precise founding date of Malta’s original parishes. There is no documentation because up till the 15th century, the bishop of Malta lived in Sicily and rarely travelled to the archipelago.

In 1436, Bishop de Mello travelled to Malta^{1 2}. He’d only been a bishop for 4 years² and seeing the Maltese islands was his wish to understand his diocese better. He decided to document the situation on the islands, so he created a commission of 4 Canons to put a list together^{1 2}. This seminal text documents Maltese church life at the time. Historians call this “The Rollo of 1436” or “Rollo de Mello”^{1 2}.

This research shows us the town of Naxxar already existed at the time. By 1575, it controlled an astonishing total of 36 chapels and churches³:

• 14 in Naxxar
• 5 in Ħal-Għargħur
• 12 in Mosta
• 5 in neighbouring areas.

This reflects the devotion to Roman Catholicism, and the importance of Naxxar at the time.  If we put this in perspective; the population in the parish was about 20 000⁴. The number of places of worship per capita is impressive.

Ħal-Għargħur growth

Ħal-Għargħur was a rural community. Naxxar’s main industry was cotton growing⁵. Smaller quantities of other crops must have also grown in the town, given the climate and terroir. Ħal-Għargħur is on a separate hilltop to Naxxar providing an immediate sense of separation from the main town. It also adds a barrier to having a single community because that geography lends itself to isolation.

Records show there also was an Abbey of sorts in the Middle Ages. The area is still known as Tar-Rħieb (which loosely translates to “Friars’ place”)⁶.

A century after Mello, the Pope appointed Pietro Dusina to be an Inquisitor for Malta⁷. Dusina’s first order of business was to visit every parish, village, town and hamlet on the islands⁷. He paid attention to detail so it is impossible to research this period without referring to him. Dusina’s information shows Ħal-Għargħur had grown but still had the 5 chapels mentioned earlier⁸. These chapels were dedicated to:

• The Assumption of Our Lady (known as Taż-Żellieqa)
• St Bartholomew, the Apostle
• St Mary (Ta’ Bernarda)
• St Nicholas of Bari
• St John the Baptist.

The people of Ħal-Għargħur petitioned Dusina for an independent parish⁸. They had practical concerns, the distance to Naxxar being the main argument⁸. They stressed that a parish of their own would let them attend religious services and receive sacraments on a regular basis. Apart from their demands, it’s worth pointing out that the Church already considered Ħal-Għargħur to be a distinct community⁶. In birth and marriage records, priests would already indicate if people came from this village, or from Mosta or from Naxxar⁶. If this was important enough to note on official documents, why not put that thought in place with a new parish?

They made a convincing argument, so why oppose creating a new parish?

The Declaration of Ħal-Għargħur as a Parish

Faced with all this the Church granted Ħal-Għargħur parish status in 1598^{8 9}. The chapel of St Bartholomew became the focal point⁶ and Senglea-born Fr Matthew Schiriha became the new parish priest^{6 9}. Parishioners’ ecclessiastical needs could now be better tended to. Apart from improving their lives, it also meant the Church could raise funds from within the community.

This decrease in funding is what infuriated Naxxar’s parish priest, Fr Julian Borg^{8 9}.

Fr Borg was livid that he would suffer a financial loss and would no longer have authority over Ħal-Għargħur. We can understand the human fear at losing part of his sphere of influence, but this is not as understandable when it comes from the church. Fr Borg suffered a mental breakdown^{8 9}and must have made some sort of persuasive argument to the bishop. In 1601^{8 9}, Bishop Gargallo reversed his earlier decision⁹ “not to trouble Fr Borg till his death.” There’s no clear documentation to show what argument Borg made, or how he managed to get what he wanted.

There’s not much information about what residents thought about this, but Fr Borg left Malta for Istanbul⁹. Locals gossiped about Fr Borg’s affairs with numerous women⁹, leading to his arrest and torture⁹.

Regaining Parish Status

All of this didn’t last long because Fr Borg died in 1610^{8 9}, nine years later. Bishop Gargallo didn’t waste any time and reinstated Hal-Gharghur’s status on 16 July 1610⁸. Fr John Baptist Chetcuti became the second parish priest⁸ who served for a note-worthy 56 years⁸.

This time round, it was the chapel of St John the Baptist that served as a parish church⁸ but this soon outgrew the village’s needs. Fr Chetcuti built a new church on the site of the small chapel dedicated to St Bartholomew⁸. This is the church that still stands today.

Conclusion

Like any organisation run by humans, human politics plays a large part in its development and evolution. The Roman Catholic Church is not immune to this; Ħal-Għargħur being a case in point.

References

1. Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture. (2024). A pilgrimage through medieval Malta: the Itinerario De Mello. [online] Available at: https://aleteia.org/2023/10/06/a-pilgrimage-through-medieval-malta-the-itinerario-de-mello [Accessed 6 May 2025][↩][↩][↩]
2. Mdina Cathedral Museum Archives | Official website for the Mdina Metropolitan Cathedral, Museum and Archives. (2017). Bishops of Malta | Mdina Cathedral Museum Archives. [online] Available at: https://metropolitanchapter.com/mdina-metropolitan-cathedral/archbishops-seat/bishops-of-malta/ [Accessed 6 May 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Naxxar. (n.d.). Churches & Chapels. [online] Available at: https://naxxarlc.gov.mt/en/churches-chapels/[↩]
4. Morana, M. (2022). Medieval Malta. [online] Available at: https://kliemustorja.com/2022/09/02/medieval-malta/[↩]
5. Naxxar Walks 2 3. (n.d.). Available at: https://dinlarthelwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/naxxar-walks.pdf[↩]
6. Placeandsee.com. (2025). Available at: https://placeandsee.com/wiki/gharghur [Accessed 6 May 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
7. Grima, J. F. (2020). It happened in August: Mgr Pietro Dusina’s arrival in Malta in 1574. [online] Available at: https://timesofmalta.com/article/it-happened-in-august-mgr-pietro-dusinas-arrival-in-malta-in-1574.808818[↩][↩]
8. Għargħur Local Council. (2025). The Parish Church. [online] Available at: http://www.gharghur.gov.mt/locality/the-parish-church [Accessed 6 May 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
9. Bonello, G. (2024). Finding traces of three Maltese localities in the ‘Libri Conciliorum’. [online] Times of Malta. Available at: https://timesofmalta.com/article/finding-traces-three-maltese-localities-libri-conciliorum.1098644[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.