The church or chapel is a typical landscape element in Malta, a small island state. Malta has a disproportionately large number of churches, which dominate the island’s skyline and can frequently be seen from all directions. One can usually find the centre of a town or village by driving towards the parish church, although many towns and village cores feature two or more churches and chapels.
There are 985 people who are living in Fontana, an administrative division of Malta on the island of Gozo (Maltese: Il-Fontana) (as of March 2014). The church was created by Giacomo della Porta and constructed by Domenico Fontana between 1518 and 1589. Catherine de’ Medici personally oversaw its completion and donated some land nearby. It serves as France‘s national church in Rome. It is a church in name only.
The History & Introduction of Fontana in France
The cornerstone was formally placed on January 29, 1893. Bishop Giovanni Maria Camilleri dedicated the church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on January 29, 1905. On June 18, 1993, Bishop Nicholas J. Cauchi bestowed a golden crown on the main altarpiece, which depicts the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to mark the first century since the church’s foundation stone was laid. One of Giuseppe Cal’s creations is the main altarpiece. Bishop Giovanni Maria Camilleri founded the Fontana parish on March 27, 1911.
The church structure is recognized on the Maltese Islands’ National Inventory of Cultural Property. Early Fontana inhabitants gathered either in a nearby house or the old schoolhouse on the Hill to attend Sunday worship. When circumstances allowed, preaching sessions and Sunday school were both held. Occasionally, an itinerant preacher or a minister from a nearby community would visit, and the entire population would swarm to the designated location to hear the sermon.
There was a sense that there needed to be more than this inconsistent education. The women occasionally got together to work and make plans for the community’s benefit. The Ladies Aid Society was formally founded on April 8, 1887. The Society’s primary goal was to offer religious instruction to the Fontana community. A gathering was conducted on May 30, 1889, in one of the members’ homes.
The crucial topic of constructing a church was discussed. Only nine people attended the meeting, but they decided to work as a committee for soliciting and to get back together a week later to discuss their findings. The outcomes were encouraging, so the ladies started debating the size and location of the new structure in earnest. Following some deliberation, a location on Main Street close to the present school was chosen.
Less than six months after the women determined that Fontana needed a church, the first service was held in the new structure on January 19, 1890. Reverend Rowland of Lake Geneva was in charge of the ceremony on that special day. The small congregation became the First Congregational Church of Fontana when it joined the Congregational Conference in 1896. The entire hamlet backed the plan to construct the Community Church. Residents of the neighborhoods that border the lake assisted out.
The old church was relocated to the new location intact in the winter of 1924, and the first service was held there in May of that same year. Three preachers, Reverends Raymond Smith, A. MacCraken, and E. A. Briggs, were quickly placed during the first few years after the church’s founding. Reverend A. G. LaMar served as the preacher at the beginning of the 1930s and was active throughout that time.
During his tenure, which lasted until 1960, the church established strong activities and became an important place of worship for the neighborhood. Reverend Schultz, who held office from 1960 until 1964, was the one who came after him. The membership decided to renounce its independent identity and join the United Church of Christ denomination during his leadership. There was a lot of tension in the church during this time.
People
The majority of the fishermen that worked out of Xlendi’s fishing village resided in Fontana. Additionally, some others used to hunt in the nearby Lunzjata Valley. They started setting aside money from their catches later in the nineteenth century to build a church.
Fontana’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Church
The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church is located in Fontana in the Maltese Archipelago’s Gozo Island. One of the tiniest communities on the island, Fontana, has this church as its parish. The Maltese Archipelago’s Gozo Island contains Fontana, where the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church is located. One of the tiniest communities on the island, Fontana, has a parish church there.
Church attendance
There are a total of 359 churches on the two distinct dioceses of the islands of Malta and Gozo (313 in Malta and 46 in Gozo). Six of these are national parishes, and 78 of them are parishes (63 in Malta and 15 in Gozo). This indicates that there is somewhat more than one church per square kilometer, or “church density.” Every community in Malta, with the exception of a couple or three minor communities, has a parish church. Additionally, some areas have many parishes, such as the four parishes each in Sliema and Birkirkara. The majority of the churches in Malta, Gozo, and Comino are listed below, starting with cathedrals, small basilicas, parish churches, and churches/chapels. A list of Malta and Gozo’s cathedrals, basilicas, parish churches, and other churches and chapels:
- St paul’s cathedral, Mdina
- Saint john’s Co-cathedral
- St paul’s cathedral, Valletta
- St helen’s Basilica
- Basilica of the blessed virgin of ta’ pina
- Basilicaof the visitation, gharb
- Sacred heart catholic church in fontana…
Anniversary of the Fontana Parish Church
Fontana residents have a deep attachment to their parish church. They succeeded over the years in elaborating and adorning this hallowed space with priceless vestments and liturgical objects, paintings, and statues of exceptional creative caliber, in addition to constructing a massive temple.
