My years at the Major Seminary were a milestone for me personally as I truly enjoyed community living. I would have probably done well even if I joined a religious order and lived in a community of monks or friars, as I shared with you last week when I lived with the Trappist monks at Spencer, Massachusetts, USA. But my years at the Seminary were between 1970 and 1977, and I was lucky to have spent those years at the Floriana Major Seminary, because by 1978, the Seminary had moved to its new place at Tal-Virtu, in Rabat.
The main chapel at the former Seminary, which is now the Diocesan Chancery, was probably my favorite place as I spent hours praying, besides celebrating and attending daily Mass with my classmates. The inside of the chapel has a rococo-style architecture. The titular painting on the main altar depicts St Ignatius writing his spiritual exercises under the direction of the Blessed Mother and the Child Jesus. It is the work of the French painter, Antoine Favray (1706-1798) who also did the other 4 paintings in the side altars.
On the first floor, there is another chapel, which was used for private prayer, and I remember well the silhouette above the altar, which you can see here in this black-and white photo I took in the 1970s with my Instamatic camera. While we attended classes at the University of Malta, which was brand new then, we lived and did all other activities at the Seminary. Tomorrow, I’ll take you inside the Refectory, an entire painting from floor to ceiling.
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