Introduction

Walking away from the Cathedral piazza towards the main gate of Mdina, still on Triq Villegaignon, we come across the oldest cloister of nuns in Malta. The Benedictine nuns came to Malta in the early 15th century and the church and monastery of St. Peter were established when Giacomo Valguarnera was Bishop of Malta.

Bishop Valguarnera was of Aragonese descent from the ruling family in Assoro, Sicily, where he is now buried.

The Church

The current church was endowed with gold and silver by the Spanish Bishop Cubelles (the Bishop who also initiated the Universal Peace Walk in 1543) and also renovated by a subsequent, Sicilian, bishop Baldassare Cagliares.

The main masterpiece of the church is Mattia Preti’s titular painting, that of St. Peter, flanked by Santa Scolastica and Saint Benedict, considered to be the mother and father of Latin monasticism (as distinct from Eastern or Byzantine monasticism) and the founders of the Benedictine Order. Other paintings in the church are of renowned Maltese painter, Francesco Zahra.

The remains of Blessed Maria Adeodata, once a cloistered nun who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001, are in this church.

Next Stop

Leaving the Church and Monastery of St. Peter behind where Triq Villegaignon intersects with Triq Inguanez , we encounter the Church of St. Agatha.