This church lies under Advance Gate and marks the spot where a pyx filled with consecrated hosts was discovered on Saturday, 21 October 1837. Its theft occurred from the Church of Santa Teresa in Cospicua on the night between the 18 and 19 October. Nowadays, the neighbourhood is popularly referred to as ‘Fejn Sabu s-Sinjur’.
Sacrilegious Theft
On Thursday, 19 October 1837, while approaching the altar to say mass, Father Teodosju of the Immaculate Conception realised that the door of the tabernacle had been broken and that the pyx with the consecrated hosts was stolen. The news raised great commotion and instilled fear among the population still recovering from a dreadful cholera outbreak. Bishop Francesco Saverio Caruana solicited the recitation of prayers of reparation across Malta and Gozo and ordered the covering of the main altar of St Teresa Church, Bormla.
The Search Begins
The friars and the faithful searched incessantly around the Church environs, but the stolen pyx full of consecrated hosts was nowhere to be found. Eventually, on Saturday 21 October, 11-year-old Francesco Cachia from Żabbar, spotted the stolen pyx shrouded in a piece of cloth in a rock crevice underneath Advance Gate. The news spread in the blink of an eye. All and sundry rejoiced, while the bells rang in thanksgiving.
The consecrated hosts were solemnly transferred to St Theresa Church by the Vicar General Salvatore Lanzon. Thanksgiving celebrations, including the lighting up select buildings, were held in the following three days. The perpetrator proved to be Paul Galea, nicknamed Bagollu. He was caught shortly after, tried, and sentenced to life in prison.
The Chapel
In no time, the site of the discovery attracted great attention and the Teresian Friars transformed the vault into a small church, barely nine square feet. The hideout was marked with a sculpted white marble altar. This includes a niche adorned by Christ the Savior, a pyx encapsulated by a radiating halo, two adorating angels, and the eucharistic symbols of grapes and wheat.
The frontal elevation of the altar table bears an inscription in Latin that reads:
AS IS HIS ENDLESS GOODNESS
WITH PUBLIC PRAYER CALLED
THE LORD WAS ABLE TO DISCOVER THE TREASURE OF THE EUCHARIST
ENCLOSED IN A SILVER PYX
THAT WITH A SACRILEGE ATTEMPT
FROM THE CHURCH OF MOTHER SERAPHICA
ON 19 OCTOBER 1837 IT WAS TAKEN,
FOR FEAR OF PUNISHMENT
WITHIN THE CRACK OF THIS WALL
IT WAS PLACED SOME SEVEN FEET ABOVE THE GROUND.
FROM HERE WITH FERVENT LOVE FOR RELIGION
AMONG THE TEARS OF JOY
TOWARD THE TABERNACLE AGAIN IT WAS TAKEN.
THIS IS THE STRONG FAITH OF THE MALTESE
SO THAT THE EVENT IS NOT FORGOTTEN OVER TIME
WITH COLLECTED GRANTS
HERE IS THIS MEMORIAL STONE
A SIGN OF MAN’S LACK OF WORSHIP
TESTIMONY OF THE GRACE OF THE LORD. PC
