Qala Parish Church

Immaculate Conception and Saint Joseph

Dedication Date
8 May 1904

Parish Arcpriest

Fr Ignatius Borg
Mob: 9983 2376
E-mail: duninjazjuborg@gmail.com

Parish Office
Pjazza San Ġużepp, Qala GSM 103
Telephone 2155 6684 – 2155 8552 (Church)
Fax: 2155 6684

Parish Population
1700

Mass Schedule (click here)

Brief History

Qala is the easternmost village of Gozo. Its name is Maltese and Arabic for bay or sheltered haven.

Qala is the village that has the famed Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception and Saint Joseph, that once made the village very famous. The church has what is probably the best painting in Gozo, an oil on canvas of the Conception by Federico Barocci di Urbino. People used to flock to the chapel seeking divine intercession and the walls of the chapel were once covered with ex-voto paintings donated by those who were healed. It is one of the oldest standing chapels in Gozo. It served as a parish for the eastern part of Gozo from 1688 to about 1700.

The village parish church is dedicated to St Joseph. It was built by the same architect-priest who built the church of Ghasri, Dun Guzepp Diacono, between 1882 and 1889, when he was serving as parish priest of Qala. It is built in baroque, for many churches on the island, whether built in the seventeenth or in the latter half of the twentieth century, were constructed in this style.

Qala became a parish on 3 February 1872, the first to be established after the establishment of the Diocese of Gozo. Until 1889, the seat of the parish church was the church of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. The foundation stone of the parish of Saint Joseph was laid on 19 March 1882 and the church was consecrated on 8 May 1904. The parish became Archipresbyteral on 21 April 1965.