The stone statue of St Paul found at the courtyard of the Gozo Seminary in Victoria has been restored.

The origin of the statue goes back to the occasion of Rector’s Day in 1905. At that time the seminary was run by the Society of Jesus. It was customary on Rector’s Day that lecturers and parents of students contributed towards a very special gift to their dedicated rector, who at that time was well-known archaeologist and folklorist Fr Manwel Magri. Towards the end of a music-literary evening in his honour, some able-bodied seminarians brought into the hall a large statue of St Paul sculpted in local stone and they presented it to him as a gift.

The statue was eventually raised on a plinth in the middle of the courtyard at the entrance of the seminary with an inscription to commemorate that great occasion.

The inscription pays tribute to St Paul as the remarkable overseer of the Maltese and Gozitans and to Fr Rector for continually striving to shape his students on Christian principles.