Comino Chapel

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A tiny Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to the Holy Family Upon its Return from Egypt is located above Santa Marija Bay. Built in 1618, and enlarged in 1667 and again in 1716, the chapel was originally dedicated to the Annunciation. It has been deconsecrated and reconsecrated at least once in its history, when Comino was devoid of residents. The earliest record of a chapel on this site dates back to the 12th century, and can be seen in a navigational map of the period, located in the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London.

In the past, and well into the 20th century, whenever the seas were too rough for the Gozitan priest to make the crossing to Comino for the celebration of Holy Mass, the local community would gather on the rocks at a part of the Island known as Tal-Ħmara, and gaze across the channel towards the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rocks (Maltese: il-Madonna tal-Blat), in Ħondoq ir-Rummien, Gozo, where Mass was being celebrated. They followed the Mass by means of a complex flag code.

Looking at the church from the outside one sees a very primitive, plain church however the interior of the church contrasts with the exterior. The interior is constructed on a Neo-Gothic style, with pointed archways. The sanctuary is separated from the main body of the church by an Iconostasis, one of the few churches left with it intact, indicating its origins at a time when the Maltese Church fell under the Byzantine Church. The main painting depicts the return of the Holy Family from Egypt and has influences from Francesco Zahra. It was restored in 1928 by Vincenzo Bonello. The church has one altar and three statues, the Virgin Mary, the Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph.

Researched and written by Federica Fluca