Ta’ Ġieżu Crucifix

Today, Friday 4 April 2025, at Valletta, the capital city of Malta, there is the procession with the Ta’ Ġieżu Crucifix. This famous and miraculous Crucifix, which is at the Franciscan Church of St Mary of Jesus (Ta’ Ġieżu) in Valletta, has a long history.

 Essentially, this Crucifix is a mid-17th century sculpture which fills its spectator with that reverence and amazement. The remaining features like sculpted wood, parchment, gesso as well as that finishing touch, distinctively put together by the artistic hands of Franciscan Sicilian friar Frate Innocenzo’s great faith, who sculpted it in wood. The date given is that of 1646. Most probably he executed this work while being on a short stay in Malta. As a Franciscan Friar, with that obvious and natural connection with the Holy Land, it was possible and feasible to put this early Baroque sculpture at the Franciscan Church of Ta’ Ġieżu, in Valletta. The good friar successfully brought out that subtle delicate phase which runs between the sensual and the spiritual realm.

 The crucifix was commissioned by Fra Marco Rosset who was an Aragonese Knight of the Order of St John. The same knight was also the founding member of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Cross, whose principal goal was to transmit the devotion to the said crucifix.  

The crucifix’s dramatic nature, especially by the manifestation of those harsh marks done on Christ’s body as he was suffering his Passion for us and for our salvation, singles it as a peculiar baroque effigy. In direct contrast with other crucifixes, in which Christ is looking upwards whilst talking to God’ the Father, Ta’ Ġieżu’s Crucifix is looking down, straight into the person who is worshipping him. By that powerful look one gets the sense of an intense devotional and emotional relationship.

 From those singular eyes, full of pain, suffering and agony, the words of the suffering servant in the book of Isaiah which the liturgy of Good Friday proclaims come to life:

 See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him– so marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man– so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; for those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it.

Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him.

He was spurned and avoided by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all.

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny?

When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, a grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. But the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.

If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him.

Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses (Is 52:13 ― 53:12).

This Crucifix is called The Miraculous Crucifix because it is undoubtedly the most venerated Crucifix in Malta. According to the Franciscan historian Fra Giovanni Antonio Mercieca, an 18th century historian, the Ta’ Ġieżu’s Church is regarded as if it were everybody’s parish church. Countless is the number of devotees who prayed fervently before this Crucifix. For the Maltese praying before this special Crucifix automatically signifies that the grace one is praying for is already given by God. A notable fact is that this crucifix accompanied us Maltese in difficult moments in our history such as in times of pestilence, war and drought. Both the Franciscan Friars Minor as well as the Archconfraternity of the Holy Cross, founded in the Cappella della Passione within the same Church where the Crucifix is venerated, managed to keep alive this great witness of faith and devotion to the Christus patiens (suffering Christ) among us Maltese.

The Ta’ Ġieżu crucifix was also taken to Gozo. This was done on the occasion of the Jubilee of Hope and the beginning of Lent. In a pastoral letter read out in all churches on March 2, Mgr Teuma said the visit of the image of the Crucified Lord in Gozo at the beginning of Lent was not just a historical happening of devotion towards a holy image, but also an invitation to Christians to gaze once again upon that “great sign of hope that incarnates the entire love of God for us all: Christ Crucified.

This was not the first time that the Ta’ Ġieżu crucifix was taken to Gozo. For instance, during World War II, it was taken from Valletta to the same church of the Franciscan friars between May 1941 and March 1944, so as to avoid potential damage because of the constant air raids.

Let us pray with St Francis of Assisi before the Crucifix:

 Most High glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, sure hope and perfect charity. Fill me with understanding and knowledge that I may fulfill your command. Amen.

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