The Bahar ic-Caghaq chapel known to be dedicated to St Peter the Fisherman is in a neglected state and needs urgent restoration lest it is lost for good.

The chapel is at present used as storage room for tables, chairs, ladders, old doors and windows, wooden benches, metal slabs, a rusty fridge and other junk.

The Malta Independent had quite a time trying to identify the authority responsible for the chapel.

A spokesperson for the Parliamentary Secretary for Revenues and Lands pointed out that the chapel was registered by tenement number 66038 and leased to the Fransiscan Friars. A plan of the area showed that the chapel was situated in the limits of Naxxar.

A spokesperson at the Archbishop’s Curia said the chapel, situated behind the ice-cream kiosk at Bahar ic-Caghaq, “is not a property of the Archdiocese of Malta”. Meanwhile though, he explained that the parish priest of Gharghur was interested in starting to take care of the chapel and was conducting research in this direction.

When contacted, the Gharghur parish priest explained that to his knowledge, the chapel had been privately owned, perhaps by owners of the adjacent summer residences, but it was bought by the government during the Second World War and was no longer used as a chapel. Along the years it got rented out to the Jesuit Friars.

Although it is known to be dedicated to St Peter the Fisherman, this was probably not its original name, which makes it difficult to find information about the chapel. Moreover, archives dating back before the war were in Latin.

When contacted, the Jesuit Friars denied being responsible for the chapel and said that the Franciscan Friars of Bahar ic-Caghaq were responsible for it. The latter denied this.

TMID also contacted the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry as well as the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to enquire whether there was a call for restoration of the chapel from its owners. However, both the ministry spokesperson as well as the Mepa spokesperson replied in the negative.

And, in the meantime, the neglect continues.