22/10/2023
🥰
A popular narrow road next to the historic basilica of St. George Martyr in , gets its name from this niche, one of the oldest street shrines gracing a corner of Medieval Victoria. The statue is named after the Charity Confraternity which existed within St. George’s Basilica up to 1620.
CHARITY STREET
Gozo's capital city is the pulsating heart of this small island in the archipelago. Its narrow streets are among the most popular with those who visit it - and it's easy to see why!
In Charity Street, at the corner with Triq id-Dejqa, the narrowest street on the island, we find a very old niche dedicated to Our Lady of Charity holding Baby Jesus offering bread to a boy in tatters.
BIL-MALTI
In-niċċa tal-Madonna tal-Karità fi Triq il-Karità, ir-Rabat, Għawdex.
THE NICHE OF OUR LADY OF CHARITY
The date when the statue was commissioned is unknown but it was made prior the 16th century. Till 1620 there was a Confraternity of the Charity in the nearby Basilica of St. George.
The niche was bequeathed with 40 days of indulgences by Bishop Ferdinandu Mattei (1807-1831) to those who stop in front of it to recite a Salve Regine.
ARCHITECTURE
The niche is simple and blends well with the setting. The outer structure of the niche is made of local limestone, with a bulky console supporting two pillars with a flat square capital on top. Resting on these capitals is a broken aedicule with the space on top filled by a crown carved in stone and a Trefoil Cross on top.
Behind the glass doors, the medium-sized figure of Our Lady of Charity and the Poor depicts the Madonna with Baby Jesus. She is seen standing with the Infant Christ in her left hand and supporting the weight with her left foot. Her other hand is slightly brought forward creating movement in the drapery folds.
Whereas the Madonna is facing the kneeling poor person, Baby Jesus is shifting his gaze to the devotee below. Both Our Lady and Baby Jesus have a silver starred aureole.
To tie the two groups of figures together, the sculptor extended the Madonna’s hand, bringing it to rest on a pile of Gozitan ftira bread laid on a traditional porcelain bowl. The figure of the Poor is kneeling and wrapped only in a light mantle and is bare footed.
LISTED IN THE NICPMI
The niche has been listed in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands (NICPMI Inv. No. 00873; Date of Publication 27 August 2012). It was deemed to have ‘high historical, artistic and social’ cultural heritage property value.
Photo Copyright © Kappa Vision / Jean-Paul Borg.
References:
- Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, culture .gov .mt;
- Various, “Niċeċ f’Għawdex - Storja, Reliġjon, Folklor”, 1987, Malta, Dar Editriċi tal-Franġiskani Konventwali, Reliġjon u Ħajja.
For all my latest photos, please visit and like Kappa Vision on Facebook and kappavision_gram on Instagram. When sharing, DO NOT repost, but FEEL FREE to share directly from Kappa Vision.
