St James’ Church on Valletta’s bustling Merchants’ street never attracted my eye the same way the other churches in the city do. When I found out my ancestors married there so I thought I’d take a closer look at this historical building.

Commissioning a church

From the beginning, the Knights of St John earmarked this site for a church. When Valletta was being laid out, one of the divisions of the Knights requested space for a church of their own¹. This was the langue of Castille, Leon y Portugal and they wished to dedicate a church to their patron saint – St James¹. Their main auberge is a block away, so this was a suitable location for them.

James is an important Iberian saint. In Spanish he’s known as Santiago. He’s most famous outside of Spain for the pilgrimage called Santiago de Compostela.

It took them till 1612 to build something², through funding from Grand Chancellor Fra Pietro Gonzales de Mendoza². The 1693 earthquake damaged it² leaving it in poor condition.

In 1703, the Langue of Castille requested a loan of 2 000 scudi from the treasury to repair the church². They promised to repay the loan at a rate of 100 scudi a year². Their request was immediately granted². By 1710 they’d replaced their damaged building with the current baroque church^{2 3}. The Priory of Castille, Cardinal d’Arias, covered most of the cost of the new church.

In those days, this primary thoroughfare was St James’ Street or Strada San Giacomo. (The Knights’ lingua franca was Italian.)

This is a few blocks west of the site of the awful 19th-century carnival catastrophe.

Architectural and Artistic Features

The church was one of the first to be built in a Baroque style influenced by Bernini himself¹. Architect Romano Carapecchia had joined the Knights as an architect and water engineer¹. This was his first major project on the islands^{1 3}. Historical sources don’t explain if he came to Malta to design stuff for the Knights, or if he was there anyway.

The exterior

From outside, you can see that there are two (high) storeys. While they are adorned, this is not like the Baroque examples you can find in Sicily. There is a sense of restraint in the decor which includes niches, windows and pillars along a central cartouche. They seem empty, but the effect is to throw shade onto various parts of the facade at different times of day; almost like a chiaroscuro effect. The cartouche frames a coat of arms, and an elliptical cupola squats on top of the building, not visible from street level.

You can also make out a side door which someone since walled up³.

Upon completion, this was one of the most elegant Baroque buildings on the islands³. One wonders if the population appreciated it at the time.

The interior

Like all baroque churches, the interior is elliptical³. The main path in the church extends from the main door to the altar³ and this is accented by the high arches on either side of the building. The cupola lets in natural light and enhances a sense of openness.

The wide altar has a painting of St James as a centrepiece. Under the painting, there is an image of the Madonna of Soledad which is miraculous¹, or so they say. A Spanish Knight brought this to Malta¹, but his name isn’t recorded.

Festivities

The Knights were serious about celebrating their patron saints.

St James’ feast day is 25 July. On the eve of the feast, prayers were offered in the Co-Cathedral of St John¹. After this, the Grand Master of the Knights would proceed to the church of St James accompanied by other high-ranking officials¹. A High Mass would be heard¹, together with a full choir¹, and there would be so many people in attendance that the crowd would spill out into the street¹.

The next morning, the Grand Master would be back in the church at 08:00¹. After hearing mass again, a procession would set off for St Johns’ Co-Cathedral led by the Vice-Prior of the church¹. The procession would sing praises to the saint¹ while carrying a relic of St James the apostle¹. This relic would then be placed on the High Altar of the Co-Cathedral¹ which was a sign to start a ceremony in the presence of the assembled Knights¹.

Use and care of the church

At the beginning, the Church appointed a Maltese sacristan¹ to care for the church, and gave him nearby accommodation too¹.

Under the British administration, the authorities helped improve the building. Records of public works from 1871 show they spent 37 British Pounds⁴ on restoration⁴. The rntry reads “Repairing the dome and renewing terraces; repairing and painting wood and iron work; renewing several and repairing other sacred vestments”⁴

On 28 March 2008, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority listed the building as a Grade I national monument in Government Notice 276/08³. This is the highest level of protection awarded by the state and it means the building is untouchable⁵

Nowadays the church is also used for services by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

References

1. Graham, J. (2025). St.James, Valletta. [online] Blogspot.com. Available at: https://lecrac.blogspot.com/2014/02/stjames-valletta.html [Accessed 9 Apr. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Pisani, M. (2002). St James Church – Carapecchia’s First Commission in Malta – and the Municipal Palace, Valletta. Baroque Routes, [online] 23 Jun., pp.13–15. Available at: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/123456789/40112/1/St_James_Church_Carapecchia’s_first_commission_in_Malta_and_the_Municipal_Palace_Valletta_2002.pdf [Accessed 9 Apr. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. The Times of Malta (2008). One World – Protecting the most significant buildings, monuments and features of Valletta (28). [online] Times of Malta. Available at: https://timesofmalta.com/article/one-world-protecting-the-most-significant-buildings-monuments-and.217981 [Accessed 9 Apr. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
4. Public Works 1871. (1872). [online] National Statistics Office, p.14. Available at: https://nso.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/1872_Chapter8_H.pdf [Accessed 9 Apr. 2025][↩][↩][↩]
5. Zammit, N. and Bianco, L. (2023). Scheduling Heritage in Malta. Periodica Polytechnica Architecture. doi:https://doi.org/10.3311/ppar.21681.[↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.