La capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Divina Gracia

Our Lady of Grace
~ Of Sliema ~In front of the parish church of Stella Maris in Sliema we find a small church dedicated to Our Lady under the title of Grace. The Slimis know this church as the small church as a distinction from the big church of Stella Maris, which is next to it.Origin of churches in Tas-SliemaDuring the time of the Knights, when all of Sliema was still close to the Fortress of Tignè, there was a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Nativity. Its feast was held on the 8th of September with a foundation of 1631. The pilgrims, entering and leaving the port of Marsamxett, used to salute the Madonna when they saw this church. But this church was built in a place where few people would come to it and therefore it ended up being neglected and the bishop Fra Mikiel Giovanni Balaguer Camarasa declared it closed in 1659. This church had several names apart from the Nativity of Our Lady. Among these we find Tal-Qortin (because at that time the Tas-Sliema area was known as that), Porto Salvo and Tas-Sliema ; from the latter came the name of the locality.When this church was abandoned in 1734 it was taken over by a certain Michele Pianta, a well-known silversmith at the time of the Order of St. John. In order to be able to carry out the restoration in 1741 Pianta left a piece of land from which to pay the masses and other needs of the church. As a benefactor of this church when Pianta died in 1749 he was buried in it. But unfortunately when the French came to Malta in 1798, they confiscated this church because they were afraid that it could be used as a hideout against them.The church of Our Lady of Grace is builtAfter the Tignè church in Sliema was demolished there was no church in this neighborhood. At that time Tas-Sliema was part of the Parish of Birkirkara and therefore people had quite a pull to move it there. So in 1803 the collection began to build a new church. The land on which this church is located was given for this purpose by Giovanna Salvaloco, with the deed dated 28 April 1801, registered in the acts of the Curia. The government also helped to build it due to the lack of churches in the area.because the Grace church had a very hardworking procurator and he ended up breaking it with the first Chaplain of Stella Maris because he was saying mass at the same time as the church of Stella Maris. Finally, in 1908 to resolve the trouble, the bishop monsignor Pietro Pace had to close the church of Grace and the affairs in it were taken to the church of Stella Maris.The church is reopenedAfter the church was closed, it served as a warehouse for setting up the Stella Maris festival for about thirteen years. In 1921 don Amadeo Bonello took it over and arranged it as best he could. With a decree of the Curia of 1922, the exposition of the Sacrament began to take place every Sunday in it. Rev. Amadeo Bonello had also made another appeal to bishop Mauro Caruana for this exposition to start taking place on the first Friday of the month and on the last two days of the Carnival. A decree authorizing this was issued in February 1923. Rev. Amadeo Bonello worked as hard as he could to make some foundations so that masses could be sanctified for the needs of those who offered the money.The church from the outside and from the insideAlthough built in a simple style, this is a beautiful church. It has a small dome made like that of St. Gregory in Żejtun, that is a primitive dome, low in the shape of an inverted bowl.The main door is rectangular in design and is surrounded by a simple frame carved in stone. You climb into the church by three small steps. A segmental pediment rests on the door frame. Above is an oval window surrounded by a plain stone cornice. The facade is crowned with a triangular pediment that runs across the width of the facade and rests on two Tuscan-style pillars at the ends of the facade.From the inside, the church is not big. The pre-Conciliar style marble altar table had been narrowed to make room for a plain post-Conciliar style medium altar. The altar is guarded by two kneeling papier-mâché angels, one on each side, holding a torch of light in the shape of a flame. On each side of the altar is a door, which doors are each located between two Ionic style pillars. Two small lamps are attached to the pillars of the inner side, that is to say those next to the altar. Above each door is a stone cornice with a stone pattern in it.celebrated on the day of the feast. It seems that these festivities were cut after 1847 when economy had to be made due to the building of the new church of Stella Maris. But on the day of the feast, a mass is still held with singing. On the feast of Stella Maris the church of Grace serves for the translation of the Relic, on the eve of the feast. Some performances are also held in Holy Week during the week before Easter.It seems that "the small church ", as it is known to the Slimizi people, has always been in the hearts of the people of the area. Today it has become very well known for weddings because many couples choose to join in this Sacrament for the refuge of Our Lady of Grace.