The restoration work on the Church of St. Catherine’s Parish Square was a joint venture initiative of the Mqabba local council and the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure. Employees of the Restoration Unit in the Works Division carried out the renovation work.

Originally, two small churches were built in 1550 and dedicated to St Peter and St Catherine respectively in fulfilment of vows received. the ground now occupied by the church of St. Catherine. By the mid-18th century, the two churches had fallen into disrepair and on 13 October 1759, Bishop Rull ordered their demolition and a church was built in their stead.

Parish Priest Giovanni Battista Torricelli, the Bishop’s delegate, laid the first stone of the present church, which initially was rebuilt under the names of the two saints, in August 1764. During the ceremony, the relics of St Candidus, St Agnes and St Colomba and a medal with the image of St Peter and St Paul were buried under the first stone. In 1774, the Parish Priest asked Bishop Pellerano’s permission to bless the new church. The architecture of the new church was different to the other churches aint Mqabba. Although its external shape is rectangular, it has a circular interior crowned with a dome designed in a simple Baroque style.

The titular painting, completed in 1776, carried the letters V.F.G.A., which indicate that it was a votive offering. It depicts Our Lady and Child with St Catherine, St John the Evangelist and an unknown person, presumably the donor.

The church remained in regular use until the 1940s with the celebration of Masses, the singing of vespers, and with penitential processions on 1 January and the feasts of St Peter and St Catherine. The feast of St John was also celebrated. After the Second World War, the church fell into disuse and started being used to store the feast decorations.

Over the years, the stone pointing of the church became detached in various areas with vegetation growing through the stonework. Rainwater seeping through the open joints into the masonry was causing irreparable damage. The stonework was going through wet and dry cycles, resulting in the movement of harmful salts from inside the masonry to the surface of the stone. This increased the rate of decay in the stone. This weathering was evident in the deteriorated stone faces and missing stone parts, notably at the corner pilaster on the left hand side and the jambs of the main portal. Iron inserts insensitively studded the two exposed facades of the church. This is particularly damaging since when iron rusts, it takes up more space and the stone cracks to accommodate the change in volume.