Church of San Giovanni di Malta - Messina, Italy - Roman Catholic Churches on Waymarking.com

The Church of San Giovanni di Malta was founded in 535 AD, when St. Benedict of Norcia sent the young monk Placido to Messina to found the first monastery of the Benedictine Order of Sicily. In 541 A. D., the building was destroyed by the invasion of a Saracen army, killing Placido and his brothers.

In 1086 King Roger II of Sicily gave the land and ruins of the church to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1113, a Papal Bull issued by Pope Paschal II approved and confirmed the possessions of the church by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The Knights made Messina this church their home from 1086 to 1806.

In 1588, the Knights commissioned Jacopo del Duca (1520-1600) to rebuild the church. San Giovanni di Malta was the seat and Grand Magisterium of the Sicilian branch of the Knights of St. John of Rhodes and later of Malta.

The earthquakes of 1783 and 1908 destroyed parts of the church other parts remain until today. After the 1908 earthquake a neo-Baroque façade designed by the architect Cesare Bazzani was added, in 1913, to the side of the church on on Via Placida as part of the the construction of the surrounding government building.

Type of Church: Church Status of Building: Actively in use for worship Date of building construction: 01/01/1588 Dominant Architectural Style: Mannerist and neo-Baroque Archdiocese: Archdiocese of Messina, Lipari, Santa Lucia del Mela. Diocese: Archdiocese of Messina Address/Location: Via San Giovanni Messina, Sicily Italy Relvant Web Site: [Web Link] Date of organization: Not listed Associated Shrines, Art, etc.: Not listed

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