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ViGiLO - Din l-Art Ħelwa
ISSUE 54 • NOVEMBER 2020
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ST. ROQUE PROTECT US! A glance at epidemics in Malta
By James Licari
Throughout history Malta – like other European countries – was struck by epidemics. The first mention of an epidemic in Malta was during the medieval era. Due to Malta’s geographical location and its strategic trading position, diseases brought from overseas were inevitable.
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n the fifteenth century the plague hit Malta. Church burials were thought to contribute to such diseases and so became prohibited during epidemics. Open air cemeteries started to be created on the outskirts of various towns and villages. Some villages also utilised small chapels outside their locality for such burials. Many of these chapels and cemeteries were dedicated to St Roque. A plague epidemic occurred in the late thirteenth century and some of the victims were buried in a cemetery in Rabat, Gozo. In October 1347, a Genoese ship carried the plague to Messina in Sicily and the Black Death pandemic started to spread throughout Europe. It is believed that a year later in 1348 this reached the shores of Malta through trade from Sicily. Little is known about the effects of the pandemic in Malta.
In 1427-28, 1453, 1501 and 1519 further plague epidemics hit the island. In 1523 the municipal authority of Mdina discovered that the plague had entered on a captured galleon. The owners refused to burn it and its cargo, yet the authorities ordered it to be burnt and the crew were isolated from the rest of the population. Despite these efforts, the plague broke out in Birgu, which was also isolated from the rest of the country. There were also other epidemics besides the plague, for example an outbreak of ‘morbus di la punta’ (possibly scarlet fever) between 1453 and November 1455, which caused many deaths. The Council of Trent (1545-65) encouraged burial in parish churches. It was customary for the casket to be left in the church before burial, sometimes until the following day with a lapse of 24 hours. This custom was changed
Cemeteries and nearby chapels were often dedicated to St Roque, believed to have been healed from the plague through divine providence, by a dog licking his wounds.
