83 years later! One of Mosta’s very own recalls the story of the Mosta Rotunda bombing miracle
Phyllis D'Arró tells GuideMeMalta’s readers all they need to know about the this miraculous event.
One of Malta’s most aerially visible landmarks is undoubtedly the Mosta Rotunda. Billed as being as one of the largest domes in Europe, the neo-classical church is home to the Basilica dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady.
But that’s not what the Mosta Rotunda is known for. Exactly 83 years ago today, the church was the site of Malta’s largest and most well-known miracles, to say the least.
Phyllis D'Arró
The miracle happened during World War II, when an Axis bomb pierced through the dome of the rotunda into a packed church.
As fate would have it, the bomb did not explode and many lives were spared that day from a tragic death.
GuideMeMalta.com caught up with Phyllis D'Arró, a veteran host and volunteer at the church to learn more about this historic miracle during one of Malta’s most troubling periods.
While she was not born yet, on that fateful 9th April 1942, Phyllis was raised in a household where the memory of the bomb was very much alive, as all her older relatives where there, and witnessed the horrors of the episode first hand.
“It was around 4:40pm, when the bomb struck. Malta was going through one of the heaviest bombing periods in its history, with multiple air-raids happening every day. Few people know that in fact, three bombs were dropped onto the church. One brazed the left-belfry and ended up falling in front of the church, the second fell behind the rotunda, but the third famously penetrated through the dome”.
“Some 300 parishioners were in the church attending Ora Santa, or Holy Adoration, when the bomb broke through the ornate ceiling, travelled at lightning speed across the church, smacked against one of the pendentives, and dropped to the floor without exploding, much to everyone’s astonishment!”
Talk of a real miracle spread across the island like wildfire, as hope was in very short supply that harrowing April.
“My mother used to tell us how all the glass panes in the church exploded as soon as the bomb broke through the ceiling, throwing shards of glass in all directions. The real miracle is that everyone walked out of the church without a scratch after this dreadful episode. No one was injured, not from the falling debris of the ceiling, not from the exploding glass, and most significantly not from the enormous weapon that could have wrecked untold destruction that day”.
“Only one of [Giuseppe] Calí’s episodes was damaged, as the half-tonne bomb hit the images of Jesus right in the face.”
“I might not have been there physically, but I feel the episode is part of who I am, and I form part of the story as much as any one of those 300 faithful, who were in the church. My mother would always tell us that after all this, not one candle on the altar was spent and this was an image that remained impressed in her head forever.”
“Restoration of the dome took place immediately, and the damaged painting was restored by Calí’s nephew Raphael. As a child I remember making it a point to walk over the damaged marble paving which was temporarily fixed with cement for a while.”
Phyllis also explains that an added element to the Mosta war-time experience is the air-raid shelter which was hewn from solid rock during the years of the war by two Mosta men, by hand.
The shelter is open for visitors, who will be able to experience life during those dreaded Axis bombings.
Have you ever visited this miraculous church?