Province of St. Mark

Augustinian Presence in St. Julians

In 1923, Mrs. Nikolina Pons told the Provincial of that time, Fr. Giovanni M. Genovese about her late uncle’s wish (he had been an Augustinian). She wished to help the farmers by building a small church and give her house to serve as a priory for two or three religious, so that they would celebrate mass everyday and give the necessary help to the faithful. After this has been accepted by the Provincial Council, by the General of the Order and by the Archbishop of Malta, architect Guzeppi Cachia Caruana, appointed by the Provincial, presented the plans of the priory but not of the church. The foundation stone was blessed and laid on 11th September 1927. However, due to financial difficulties, it was decided to build just the first storey and not both storeys, as illustrated in the plans. In this project, some rooms were left out to be used as a public oratory. On 24th May 1928, Provincial Fr. Wistin Cascun solemnly blessed the public oratory, dedicated to St. Rita. The blessing of the priory took place exactly one month later.

During the Second World War, the priory and the church of St. Rita were in a bad situation. On 27th April 1941, at around 5pm, one of the bombs of the German forces struck and demolished the heart of the priory and the church. Only the wall, where the Sacrament was, remained untouched. For this reason, the friars did their best to arrange quarters for them as they did not want to abandon the church and priory. They started using the room behind the chapel as a substitute chapel. The Augustinian friars continued to live in this state with great sacrifice till 11th November 1944, when the construction of the oratory, on the design of architect E. England Sant Fournier was completed. The blessing of the oratory took place fifteen days later. During the time when the oratory was being built, the community did its best to acquire permission from the Government to build a priory and after many appeals, part of the permit of the building was issued on 7th November 1944. The work was continued two years later. On 11th June 1950, the marble altar was consecrated by Archbishop Mons. Michael Gonzi and fifteen days later, the 50th anniversary of the canonisation of St. Rita, was celebrated with great pomp. Also, during this time, the priory served as a formation house while in the Provincial Chapter of 1974, the priory of St. Rita was chosen as the residence for Permanent Formation of youths who form part of the Augustinian Order.

Today, the Augustinian friars who live in this priory, dedicated to St. Rita, are involved in pastoral work in the same priory, as well as helping the St. Julian’s Parish church with its pastoral work. Amongst the activities which are organised, we find meetings led by the same friars about the Word of God, the Justice and Peace group, which nowadays has spread even to Paceville, meetings for women and also that of the Legion of Mary. Moreover, catechism lessons are held for children to prepare them for the First Holy Communion as well as for the sacrament of Confirmation.