Mass at the Shipwreck of St Paul chapel in San Pawl tat-Tarġa, where former British prime minister Tony Blair once surprised the congregation by turning up for Sunday service, will no longer be said on a regular basis after Saturday.

Canon Michael Agius, the chapel’s rector, told the Times of Malta the Jesuits’ Superior, Fr Paul Zammit, informed him that his priests were no longer in a position to celebrate Mass.

Despite Loyola House, in nearby Naxxar, being the largest Jesuit community in Malta with some 24 members, it is an ageing one, with the youngest priest being in his 60s and many in their 80s and 90s.

“I predict that within 10 years, 50 per cent of Malta’s chapels and churches will have to close down. It’s a matter of logistics and changing demographics. This chapel can only host 75 people while the nearby Divine Mercy Sanctuary can seat up to 950 people. The priest population is dwindling,” Fr Agius said.

The chapel will only be open on Fridays for Eucharistic adoration and for weddings and private Mass.

Built between 1696 and 1699, it replaced another that had been destroyed in the beginning of the century. The chapel hosts one of the most impressive paintings of renowned 18th century painter Giuseppe D’Arena, depicting St Paul preaching to the Maltese after his shipwreck on the island.

Within 10 years, 50 per cent of Malta’s chapels and churches will have to close down

Legend has it that the chapel was built on the spot where St Paul preached to the Maltese and was heard as far away as Gozo.

It was a favourite subject of Neapolitan artist Girolamo Gianni, who made a number of paintings of the area in 1885 when the only two other buildings in sight were Torri Gauci and the Captain’s Tower (where Grand Master Jean de Valette used to sometimes stay when touring the area there) and when the view of St Paul’s Bay consisted only of gently sloping hills.

The chapel contains numerous graffiti, including the outline of footprints etched into the flagstones leading to the main door, which newly married couples would carve to commemorate their wedding some 100 years ago.

A photograph of the late Marquis John Scicluna, the chapel’s patron in the 20th century, hangs in the sacristy.

Fr Agius gestures towards a chair in the very first row of the chapel. “This was where the late [President Emeritus] Guido de Marco used to sit. He never missed a single Mass. Three months before he passed away he asked me to promise him I would never close down the chapel. And I assured him I wouldn’t,” he said. “If an available priest comes along, I would gladly open it up for Mass.”

It was in 2005 that Mr Blair and his wife turned up for Mass. It was a planned event, Fr Agius recalls with a smile, although only the priest celebrating Mass knew about it.

Mass used to be said at the chapel on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The turnout on Wednesdays and Fridays only amounted to about 10 people, Fr Agius noted, and the congregation on Saturdays usually consisted of about 40 faithful.

Fr John Sciculna, the Jesuits’ Provincial’s Socius, said the closing down of chapels was a complex, multifaceted issue that boiled down to changing demographics, larger localities and a dwindling priest population.

Malta was overserved by chapels, he added.