The Church of the Circumcision of Our Lord, commonly known as the Jesuits' church, is one of the oldest churches in Valletta, and one of the largest in the Archdiocese. It was originally built between 1593 and 1609 by the Jesuit Order.
St Ignatius of Loyola (1419-1556), founder of the Society of Jesus in 1534, himself had considered founding a College in Malta as early as 1553 at the time of the Diocesan Bishop Domenico Cubelles (1541-1567).
However it was only through through the intervention of Pope Clement XIII (1592-1605) through a Papal Brief dated 28 March 1592, addressed separately to the Bishop and to Grandmaster Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle (1581-1595), Head of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John in Malta, Pope Clement XIII (1592-1605) that a Jesuit College was set up.
The deed founding the College and Church of the Jesuits was drawn up by Notary Giacomo Sillato on 12th November 1592, in the presence of Grand Master Verdalle, Bishop Gargallo, Inquisitor Ludovico dell’Armi, and Padre Pietro Casati SJ.
This provided the College with:
1) The Church of Saint Paul and the adjoining buildings then being built;
2) the land upon which the Seminary was supposed to be built;
3) an annual income of 220 scudi; half from the Bishop’s Mensa and half from the Cathedral.
The space carved out for it, at the very heart of Valletta, very close to the Magisterial Palace of the Order of Saint John, at that time rulers of Malta, provided the Jesuits with an ideal place to carry out their mission, part of which was to form the country’s intelligentia, at a crucial moment during the period of Catholic reform and Counter-reformation. In effect both College and Church provided the ideal space to bring forth in a Catholic state the renewal augured by the then recently concluded Council of Trent.