The St. Paul’s Shipwreck pilgrimage has been postponed from February 2021 to September 2021 after direction from health authorities vis-à-vis the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a joint statement, the Collegiate of St. Paul’s Shipwreck in Valletta and the Għaqda Tal-Pawlini dwar il-Festa ta’ San Pawl Nawfragu 2021 said that after considering the circumstances of the current situation they are constrained to celebrating the 2021 feast on a much smaller scale than usual.

This is in order to be able to responsibly follow the health directives currently in place vis-à-vis the Covid-19 pandemic.

The feast of St. Paul will therefore be celebrated with spiritual preparation in the Church dedicated to St. Paul in Valletta, followed by a pontifical mass on 10 February 2021 at 9:30am, presided over by Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, which will be broadcasted live on television.

Maestro Hermann Farrugia Frantz, who is the new Maestro di Cappella, will be directing the music, while the Għaqda tal-Pawlini will be responsible to decorate the area around the church, and will also be organising activities at the Lower Barracca on 9 February and under the bell on the evening of 10 February.

All health measures will be followed during the activities.

The La Valetta National Philharmonic Society will animate the feast programme this year. 

The traditional pilgrimage with the statue of St. Paul will be postponed to Sunday 5 September 2021.

The statement concludes that it is their hope that with everyone’s responsibility and with the work of everyone, especially frontliners, the pandemic will be behind us by then.

They noted that our ancestors had done a similar pilgrimage after the plague hit Malta in 1814.