St.Catherine's Parish Church in Zejtun

Welcome to the Zejtun parish church dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria.

Towards the end of the 17th century the town of Zejtun had grown to around 2000 inhabitants. 

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The church that served as a parish at the time dated back to the early 15th century and was dedicated to St Gregory.​It was however too small and distant from the now extended core of the town and the Zwieten, as the citizens of Zejtun are known, saw also the flurry of new and larger churches being built in other parts of Malta.

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However, the townsfolk hit a snag. They had neither funds nor land on which to build a new church. This is when Gregory Bonici stepped in. Bonici, originally from Mdina, had long taken up residence in a palace in Zejtun.He bought land and donated all the funds necessary to ensure the church would be built even after his death.

The plans and design of the church were conceived by Malta’s most renowned architect of the time, Lorenzo Gafa’. The head stonemason was Xandru Pulis, who hailed from Bormla but whose wife was from Zejtun.

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The foundation stone was laid on the 25th November 1692 and the church was consecrated by Bishop Alpheran de Bussan on the 10th May 1744.

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The new parish church was dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria.