Today the church in Malta celebrates the feast of St Publius. He was the chief of the island of Malta when St Paul was shipwrecked here in 60 AD. He welcomed St Paul, St Luke and the 276 sailors who ended up drifting to shore on planks of wood from the broken vessel on which they had traveled. Publius was very generous and hospitable to all these people, and when St Paul found out that his father was sick with fever and a bout of dysentery, he went to his house and healed him, whereupon many other natives came to be healed of various ailments. Eventually, St Paul ordained St Publius as the first Bishop of Malta. Later on in his life, he was captured and martyred by the cruel Emperor Hadrian. Most probably he was sent to the amphitheatre and devoured by a lion, as his statue always shows him with a lion next to him. The parish church of Floriana is dedicated to him, and the impressive ceiling of the church was painted by Emvin Cremona with various scenes from the life of St Publius. The account in the Acts of the Apostles says" Once we had reached safety, we learned that the island was called Malta. The natives showed us extraordinary hospitality; they lit a fire and welcomed all of us because it had begun to rain and was cold.......It so happened that the father of Publius, the governor of the island, was sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and after praying, laid his hands on him and healed him. After this, the rest of the sick on the island came to Paul and were cured. They paid us great honor and when we eventually set sail, they brought us the provisions we needed.” (Acts 28: 1-10) The italicized words show the positive characteristics of the Maltese people. He was martyred c. 125 AD, during the persecution of Emperor Hadrian, and canonised in the year 1634.
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