The Commissariat of the Holy Land in Malta is celebrating the 2000 anniversary of the birth of Saint Paul by organising an exhibition of 46 panels on the life of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The exhibition has been officially opened on 9th February 2009, in the friary of Saint Mary of Jesus in Valletta (entrance from St. Ursola Street), to coincide with the solemnity of the arrival of Saint Paul in Malta in AD 60, celebrated on 10th February. The exhibition panels were blessed by Fr. Sandro Overend OFM, Minister Provincial.
The exhibition has been the idea of an independent team of experts with links with the Holy Land Custody and the “Studium Biblicum Franciscanum” of Jerusalem, and is being presented in various centres in Italy. The exhibition will continue on its journey to the Holy Land, where it will remain permanently. The Malta exhibition is a perfect replica of the original version in Italian. The exhibition is divided into two sections. The first section concerns the life of the Apostle, as narrated in the Acts of the Apostles and in his Letters. The second section is concerned with artistic works featuring the Apostle Paul. For Malta and for other English-speaking countries, the original texts in Italian have been translated by Fr. Noel Muscat ofm.
Fr. Anthony Chircop ofm, Commissary of the Holy Land, has taken care to organise the exhibition in Malta, together with Fr. Joseph Magro ofm, who has taken care of the technicalities and printing of the texts. The Commissariat of the Holy Land in Malta has already published a study on Saint Paul by the Franciscan Biblical scholar Alfio Marcello Buscemi ofm, translated into Maltese. This was the first publication on Saint Paul during the bimillenary celebrations in Malta. Another book on Saint Paul has been published by Fr. Marcello Ghirlando ofm, lecturer of Holy Scripture at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Malta.
