Shipwrecked on Malta! - 6/7/2010 11:29am

After Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem in A.D. 57 he found himself ensnared in a legal morass. Kept in Caesarea for over two years as his case made its way through the Roman legal system—with all of its bureaucratic blundering—Paul finally threw up his hands and appealed his case directly to the highest court in Rome, his right as a Roman citizen.

So, in late A.D. 59 Paul set sail for Italy. Off the coast of Crete his ship encounters a huge storm, is blown off course, and for two weeks hurricane-force winds thrash the ship, finally sinking it off the coast of a small island in the Mediterranean.

As the ship breaks up, the passengers and crew leap into the water and desperately make their way toward shore, some swimming and some clinging to pieces of wooden wreckage. We read in Acts 28: 1-2—“Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.”

Paul and his companions spend three months on Malta, staying the winter and then completing their journey to Rome as the weather improves. They make friends and they plant the gospel.

Malta is the first stop on our Mediterranean cruise, and here we visit several sites that remember Paul’s time on this beautiful, enchanting island. Our first stop takes us to St. Paul’s Bay, the traditional location of Paul’s shipwreck.

After visiting St. Paul’s Bay we drove up to San Pawl Milqi Chapel (“St. Paul Welcomed” Chapel). The Knights of St. John built the chapel in 1616 on the site of a 3rd-century B.C. Roman villa, perhaps the villa owned by Publius, the governor of Malta who welcomed Paul and provided aid and hospitality to the stranded travelers. The Italian Archaeological Mission extensively excavated the site during the 1960s, revealing a large agricultural estate engaged in commercial olive oil production.

During most of his time on Malta Paul stayed in the town of Rabat, and here we visit St. Paul’s Grotto, perhaps the very place of Paul’s residence. Today there is a Renaissance-era marble statue of Paul in the Grotto. Pope Benedict XVI visited this site on April 17, 2010; we visited it on June 6, 2010!

              “St. Paul with his helper and virtual traveling companion, Dr. Creasy!”