Valletta’s Mysterium Fidei

Valletta’s Mysterium Fidei is a museum inside the basement of a 3 story working monastery in the heart of Valletta, Malta, that still houses cloistered nuns of the Second Order of Saint Augustine. It was partially opened to the public after 400 years just recently in February of 2023 and is worth a visit for its stone architecture, garden, & lengthy history when you are on the main island. Previously, it was only open during a few local festivals – but now we can all have a look.

As the brochure says: “Every corner narrates a story.”

It incorporates the Church of the Presentation of Our Lady, which is more commonly known as the Church of St Catherine. The church and monastery, as you see them, were built in the 18th century to replace a previous monastery which had been housed in a 16th-century palace.

Unfortunately, the basement is the only portion of the monastery building that is now open to visitors since the upper 2 floors are still occupied by the 3 remaining nuns performing their duties. (The last nun to join & later leave is the sister of one of your Hosts.) The walking tour explains much of the history.

A Little History

The origins of St Catherine’s Monastery date back to 1580, when the palace of the Marquis Giovanni and Katerina Vasco Oliviero in Valletta began to house the Orfani della Misericordia, a community of women who took care of children. Vasco Oliviero left his possessions to the community, and the palace was transformed into a monastery in 1601. A chapel dedicated to the Assumption of Mary was added to the monastery in the 17th century.

The monastery and church were rebuilt in the 18th century to designs of the architect Romano Carapecchia. Construction began in 1714 and continued for several decades. The new church was dedicated to the Presentation of Mary.

In 1849, Pope Pius IX recognized it as a community of Augustinian nuns, and 16 nuns made their profession on 3 September 1851. They have been recognized as being part of the Second Order of Saint Augustine since 1946, and 3 remain to this day.

The Augustinian Order

Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The remaining 1500 +/- Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo (died AD 430), are in several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic communities, including the one in Valletta, & live according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of St. Augustine.

• It is certain that this guiding document was called the Rule of St. Augustine for nuns at an early date, and has been followed as the rule of life in many female monasteries since the 11th century.
• These monasteries were not consolidated in 1256, like the religious communities of Augustinian monks.
• Each convent was independent and was not always subject to the general rules of the order. This led to differences in rules, dress, and mode of life.

The Underground Garden

The Ribbed Vaulted Rooms

Their Lifestyle

The pursuit of truth through learning is key to the Augustinian ethos, balanced by the injunction to behave with love towards one another. When the monastery was in full use, the nuns would handle many of the chores of a residential institution like laundry, cooking, cleaning, & nursing – plus the administrative paperwork. These same imperatives of affection and fairness among each other have inspired the order’s international missionary outreach even into the 21st century. This balanced pursuit of love and learning has energized the various worldwide branches of the order into building communities founded on mutual affection and intellectual advancement all over the globe.

Oh, yeah – they have a crypt & a cat . . .

Visiting this Hidden Gem

Getting tickets starts online at www.mysteriumfidei.com & you’ll need to download the finished tickets onto your phone or print them out for confirmation at the museum entry. My Chromebook struggled with it, but when we used a Mac & it worked just fine.

The museum is explained through a downloadable walking tour that will describe the building, its individual rooms, their uses, & the weekly lifestyles of the inhabitants.

You can immerse yourself in the smartphone walking tour by using their QR codes posted throughout the basement of the building.

It’s a slick way to scan the museum as a whole & then return to delve deeper into a subject in a single room.

The informative & friendly Hosts will guide you on using the app & the QR posters as you enter.

Address: 140, St. Christopher Street, Valletta, Malta

Sources: Wikipedia,