A statue of Jesus Christ at the shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Consecration in the Girġenti countryside, near Siġġiewi, was destroyed by fire on Sunday-Monday night.

The open-air shrine is regarded as a holy site for devotees. It was built by the late Guza Mifsud in 1986 on the site where she said she had apparitions of Our Lady.

The cause of the fire that destroyed the fibre statue has yet to be determined, a police spokesperson said.

A prayer meeting was held at the shrine the previous evening, as is done every first and third Sunday of each month.

The statue was made in 2016, by Clive Busuttil and was funded through donations by devotees.

“People have already come forward offering to donate, if and when we decide to commission a replacement statue,” Sylvana Spiteri, secretary of a committee which cares for the shrine said.

A curia spokesperson said the devotional site is managed by lay people and not by the archdiocese of Malta. 

Believers often go to the shrine to pray and reflect, feeling a sense of comfort provided by the fields, trees and greenery of the area.

“When people visit the shrine they feel a sense of peace and tranquillity, I attribute it to God,” Spiteri said.