In this post I am going to explore the history of hospitals in Birgu, from the arrival of the Order of St. John up to the end of World War Two.
The Knights were originally a Hospitaller Order. The initial members were charitable merchants from the Amalfi coast in Italy. They rebuilt pilgrims’ hospices in Jerusalem after they were destroyed by Ottoman invaders in the early 11th cenury, and established a Benedictine Hospital in Jerusalem dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The congregation running this Hospital expanded to become the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Interestingly, the eight-pointed symbol used by the Order, that we now know as the Maltese Cross, was first recorded as the emblem of the medieval Republic of Amalfi.
Over the next two centuries the Order expanded further. European crusaders who had been wounded and treated in the Hospital in Jerusalem donated money and land which enabled the Order to become financially self-sufficient. In 1113 Pope Paschal II took the Order under direct papal protection. By the mid-13thcentury, in the face of aggression from the Egyptian Mamluk sultanate, the Order had also developed a significant military function, becoming both a Hospitaller Order and an Order of Knighthood.
Cutting a long story very short, the Order arrived in Malta in 1530. I have previously written about their early work to fortify Birgu against Ottoman attack. At the same time they built their first hospital in Malta, overlooking Kalkara Creek so that patients might benefit from fresh sea breezes.
This Sacra Infermeria or Holy Infirmary was administered by the Order’s Prud’Homme, an official that was always appointed from the French Langue. The Prud’Homme’s house still stands, backing onto the Auberge de France. Its front door is close to the main door of the Church of Santa Scholastica, which is annexed to the Hospital.
The Infirmary had a high reputation throughout Europe for its effective approach to healthcare. Whilst not based on modern science, their practice was still responsive to the Hospitallers’ experience in the field. For example, all patients were given their own space with single beds and private toileting facilities. The space between each patient helped to prevent cross-contamination. Furthermore, food was served on silver plates to all patients, irrespective of their social class. This reduced the risk of infection, as silver is an anti-bacterial agent.
The hospital didn’t reserve its activities for members of the Order, but acted more as a general hospital for people from all levels of society, albeit as long as they were male. In particular it tended to the large numbers of sick and wounded during the Great Siege of 1565. During the building of Valletta, however, a second Holy Infirmary was built in the new city, facing the Grand Harbour and clearly visible from the old hospital in Birgu. The Valletta Infirmary now serves as the Mediterranean Conference Centre.
Following the move to Valletta, the Birgu Infirmary lay empty until the 1590s, when it was briefly used as an isolation hospital during a plague epidemic. It was later converted to a Benedictine Nunnery, and maintains this function to the present day.
That was not, however, the end of the Hospitaller role in Birgu. In later centuries, Malta became the ‘Nurse of the Mediterranean’ during both the Crimean War and World War One. Hospitals were established throughout Malta, and Birgu played its part in this. Buildings from the time of the Knights were requisitioned, and briefly the Inquisitor’s Palace and then the Order’s Armoury served as hospitals.
The Armoury was one of the first buildings constructed by the Knights, and had served as a hospital for those wounded during the Great Siege. Under British rule it was used through much of the 19thcentury as a hospital for British Services personnel, before being converted to a barracks.
Other hospital buildings in the area were built by the British. The Cottonera Military Hospital, active from the late 19thcentury until the 1920s, was situated at the landward end of Birgu by the Notre Dame Gate. It was one of the military hospitals that received wounded soldiers from the Gallipoli and Salonika campaigns of World War One. The site and some of the hospital buildings are now occupied by St. Edward’s College.
A further hospital built by the British was the Naval Hospital at Bighi, at the end of the Kalkara Creek across from Birgu. Indeed the two Infirmaries of the Knights and the Bighi Hospital sit at the three points of a triangle overlying the Grand Harbour.
The building is notable for the tall tower that housed a lift, enabling wounded seamen to be raised easily from sea level to the hospital on the cliffs above. This hospital was the only one in the Cottonera used throughout World War Two. It continued in active service until 1970.
Meanwhile, the Order did not neglect its own Hospitaller role. It operated numerous field hospitals during both World Wars. According to its own website it is currently active in over 120 countries, including Malta, in work that includes hospital and medical care, social services, emergency relief for refugees, and intervention in areas hit by natural disasters. As they say, they are the oldest medical mission in the world.