The last tombstone, on the left hand side of the Gozo Cathedral as one enters it, a rather elaborate baroque affair, hides a secret.

Underneath it are steps leading down to St Philip Chapel.

Although the chapel is accessible from elsewhere, the steps were there to allow the burial of priests who were members of the Congregazione San Filippo, at least till burial was allowed under the church.

This, and much more besides, was learned at the launch, last Friday of a book, Stones of Faith, by Charles R Cassar. The launch, appropriately, took place in the Chapter Hall of the cathedral itself. The book is published by Midsea Books.

Introducing the book, Mgr Joseph Bezzina pointed out that while St John’s Co-Cathedral has 405 tombstones, the Gozo Cathedral has 69. But while those commemorated in St John’s are mostly foreign knights, those buried in the Gozo cathedral are all local notables. And while the tombstones in St John’s were re-arranged by Giuseppe Hyzler, those in Victoria are still in their original place.

Contrary to what many guides say, the Gozo Cathedral was not rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake. The medieval one that existed in the 17th century was in a derelict state and in 1685, eight years before the earthquake that destroyed the cathedral in Mdina, Archpriest Carlo Magri had already commissioned Lorenzo Gafa to build a new cathedral in the Cittadella.

Carlo Magri is one of the interesting characters buried in the cathedral. He was a professor in Rome and some of his books were translated into French. Before he became archpriest in Gozo, he lived in the elite Parioli area in Rome.

But after his death, he left a mystery. Mr Cassar tells of a rumour that his successor, Archpriest Nicolo Natale Cassia Magri (apparently he adopted the Magri surname out of respect for his predecessor) wanted to be buried in the same tomb as his predecessor and so, they say, if one were to lift the Cassia Magri tombstone and turn it upside down, one will find the original 17th century tombstone of Archpriest Magri. Strangely, no one seems to have tried that.

In his book, Mr Cassar also refers to the vindictive controversy created by the British against Archpriest Saverio Cassar who, in the brief period when Gozo was ‘independent’, had represented Gozo at the Palermo court. Cassar had led the Gozitans in the rebellion against the French but the British appointed Emmanuel Vitale, who had been one of the anti-French heroes in Malta, Governor of Gozo and Cassar died broken-hearted.

The vindictiveness of the British new rulers extended to his funeral. While archpriest Cassar was not allowed a funeral at the cathedral, which was apparently held at St George’s Church, Governor Vitale was accorded almost a State funeral.

In 2014, the Gozo Cathedral will celebrate 150 years since its establishment as a cathedral and Mgr Bezzina is compiling a book on the history of the church. He revealed that recent documents have been found which say that the church was a Collegiata as early as 1453 and certainly by 1512.