A hidden chapel built over a miracle spring
Fawwara valley in Malta, named after an ancient spring, offers abundant water and shelters from northerly winds. Two small churches—Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and Our Lady of Mount Carmel—stand in the valley, the latter built directly over the miraculous spring and adjacent to a troglodytic chapel of St. George. The area contains prehistoric and medieval features such as a megalithic mound, Bronze Age artifacts, cart ruts, and a cave‑church carved into the rock. Archival records reveal that in 1270 seven young women were martyred on orders of Arab commander Ali Sid, highlighting a period of persecution.
13 days ago
The Fawwara area of southwestern Malta is known for its spring, prehistoric remains and cliffside shrines. At its center, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel stands above a spring that local tradition says resumed flowing after a 17th-century drought and a landowner’s vow to build a chapel.
The name Fawwara refers to a gushing spring. Rainwater from the nearby hills is held above a clay layer in the rock, from which the spring emerges; for generations, its water was used to irrigate fields.
The area includes two churches: the Chapel of the Annunciation, beside a rock-cut shrine dedicated to St. George, and the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, built directly over the spring. The age of St. George’s cave shrine is unknown, though the article says devotion there may date to Byzantine or pre-Norman times.
Fawwara also has prehistoric features, including a megalithic mound, Bronze Age settlement remains, rock-cut water and grain silos, and cart ruts in the surrounding landscape. The cliffs around Ġebel Ċiantar provided a natural vantage point and defensive setting.
The article recounts a story of young women from Fawwara who, according to writings by Father Franġisk Cilia found in the archives of Mdina’s Metropolitan Cathedral, were killed in the late 13th century on the orders of an Arab commander named Ali Sid. Cilia’s account describes the deaths of seven women between about 1270 and 1280, including Genesia, Cherubina, Aurelia, Verdina, Teodora, Anastasia and Domitilla.
The account gives details of their ages and deaths, and says several were buried in fields within Fawwara. Cilia also wrote that more than a thousand Maltese men and women died as martyrs under Ali Sid’s rule.
The article places the chapel within Malta’s broader devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose feast is celebrated on July 16. It says the Carmelites brought the devotion to Malta in 1418 and later established churches across the islands, including the Carmelite Basilica in Valletta.
According to a story passed down locally, a severe drought in the early 17th century dried up the Fawwara spring and its reservoir. Ġlorma Ciantar, a landowner, vowed to build a chapel in Mary’s honor if the water returned; the spring soon flowed again, and a notarial deed dated March 5, 1616, records her provision of funds for the chapel.
The chapel was placed under the administration of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Charity in Valletta. An inscription on its exterior commemorates the foundation, and the nearby hill, Ġebel Ċiantar, is named for the Ciantar family.
The Confraternity rebuilt the chapel in 1669, and it took its present form after alterations in 1756. The small square building has a central dome supported by four corner pillars, a single-bell belfry and an adjoining two-storey residence with a sacristy and retreat flat.
Inside are a stone altar, a 20th-century statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and an anonymous 1674 altarpiece depicting the Virgin and Child offering scapulars. The sacristy holds historical objects, including an 1893 Vatican certificate authenticating a first-class relic from Mary’s tomb, Stations of the Cross and processional items.
The chapel’s annual feast is held on the Sunday after Valletta’s Mount Carmel feast in July, with Mass, scapular distribution and community gatherings.
Christian sacred landscapes transform springs into sites of devotion
Christian devotion does not treat a spring as divine in itself. Rather, a place can become sacred because it recalls God’s saving work, gathers a community in prayer, or becomes associated with a history of pilgrimage and gratitude. Catholic teaching holds these meanings together: God’s presence is not confined to any location, yet particular places can serve worship and help pilgrims encounter the faith.
Springs carried particular weight in the biblical landscape because reliable fresh water was vital to life. They were meeting places and landmarks, and Scripture used living water as an image of the grace of the Holy Spirit. That practical and biblical symbolism helps explain why water sources could become settings for Christian devotion.
At Lourdes, for example, the spring is connected to the reported apparitions to Bernadette and to the actions of drinking and washing. Pope Pius XII described the water in the language of hope and healing, while directing attention beyond the water itself to God’s salvation. Holywell likewise developed as a pilgrimage site associated with St. Winefride: pilgrims kept vigil, bathed, and sought her intercession. The historical account also distinguishes popular belief about the spring from natural explanations for features such as the colored stains on its stones.
The Church’s framework keeps such devotion centered on Christ. Christ is the definitive sanctuary; a shrine is a sign of God’s saving presence in history and a place where pilgrims can renew their faith. Shrines should lead toward conversion, charity, sacramental life, and following Christ—not toward treating a natural feature as a power in itself.
So “transforming” a spring into a site of devotion means giving a landscape a Christian memory and purpose: people gather there to pray, remember, seek intercession, and express hope. The spring’s water remains created water; its devotional significance lies in how it points beyond itself to God.