From our records we know that the church of Senglea became a Parish early in 1581, just as the building of the church, known than as St Mary of Victory was completed. We know that the church was smaller than the one we have today in fact it only had three altars on each side of the main altar. Mons Ascanio Libertano, the Vicar General made a pastoral visit on behalf of Bishop Tumas Garagllo in 1585, that is just four years after the parish was set up and from his report one could see that the first altar on the right hand side of the main altar was dedicated to St Joseph. During another Pastoral Visit made by Bishop Gargallo in 1602 it came out clearer that the altar of St Joseph was by the side of the church like the other altars. The report of this visit also stated that the altar was set up by Indri Cassar and he was its main benefactor. The titular picture was painted on wood and it represented St Joseph with Jesus Christ.        It is good to point out that no matter what changes were made in the layout of the church, such as when the aisles or the transepts were built, the altar of St Joseph always kept its original place even though other altars were moved around or had their titular changed.   The setting up of the Fraternity        In 1666 during the time of Dun Frangisk Azzopardi, the sixth parish priest of Senglea the new Fraternity of St Joseph was set up. The Fraternity was founded by Guzeppi Gandolfo and the necessary documents were presented in the notarial acts of Notary Mikiel Attard on the 10th January 1666. Ever since olden time the Church always considered St Joseph as a model saint and protector of the workers especially carpenters and other workers in this line of trade. S obviously most of the members of the Fraternity of St Joseph were carpenters and they considered St Joseph as their special patron. The main aim of the Fraternity was

to spread the devotion towards this saint; to help its members who were in need; take care of their burial and offer prayers after they die. The Fraternity attracted quite a lot of members during its first year and by the time Bishop Luca Bueno made his report following his Pastoral visit in 1667 the Fraternity already had sixty members. The feast of St Joseph was solemnly marked by the Fraternity on the 19^th of March and by the time of the visit of Bishop Giacomo Canaves in 1715 they had even started to prepare for the feast by holding seven days of spiritual preparations for this feast. The Fraternity ordered a statue of the saint to be carried out in procession. By 1739 the Fraternity introduced a feast of the Patronage of St Joseph and it was held on the third Sunday after Easter. This feast in time became the principal feast more so because the feast of the 19^th March most of the time fell during Holy Week.

      More or less during this period in time a small gilded wooden niche was made on the altar of St Joseph and a small wax statue of Jesus Christ was put in it. It was a time when the Fraternity was very much alive and active, and it was during this period the titular picture which was painted in wood was changed to one painted on canvas and which represented the Holy Family.

     As time went by the activities of the Fraternity stated to become more scarce and by the middle of the eighteenth century it had completely stopped functioning. Still after some years that is, by 1806 during the time of Arch priest Dun Vincenz Cachia, the Fraternity was revived. It took such a new active life that during the time of Arch priest Dun Leopoldu Fiteni it even had a small band of about twenty bandsmen who started to take part in the procession and parts of the streets through which the procession went through were even lit up by oil lamps. The members of the Fraternity were also thinking of making a new statue of St Joseph, an idea which took many years to materialise.

      In 1860 the Senglea artist Guzeppi Bonnici painted a new titular picture on canvas. It is the same one we have today on the altar. This picture shows Our Lady and Baby Jesus and there is another figure representing Faith who is presenting a model of a church to St Joseph. This painting was paid for by the father of the artist himself. In 1864 the perspective and the altar were replaced and the altar was consecrated on the 28^th August 1864. In the middle of the altar in between the top and second layer there is a small niche which is boarded by a silver frame paid for by benefactor Guzeppi Aquilina. In this niche there is a small papier mache statue of Baby Jesus which was made by the Senglea sculptor of statue Karlu Darmanin.

     In 1870 special feasts where held in honour of St Joseph. In that year his Holiness Pope Pius IX declared in a most solemn way St Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church, thus confirming officially what was accepted and commemorated in many countries including Malta was now recognised world wide.

     Just before he died, that is in the beginning of 1879 the Senglea sculptor of statues Glormu Darmanin made the new statue of St Joseph and it started to be carried out in procession. This statue has been put on a console which is in a central position in the sacristy of the Collegiate. The statue was put there because in those days the Sodality of Priests was in charge of the sacristy and St Joseph was considered as their patron. After some time two small angles were added to the statue, one hold a small lily in his hand and the other one holding a small cross.

     During the time of Arch priest Dun Guzepp Bonanno the titular picture of Bonnici was replaced by one painted overseas. This painting did not enjoy a long life span because it was completely destroyed during the air raids of January 1941. During these and other attacks the chapel of St Joseph and other parts of the church were hit and destroyed. When the Basilica was reopened in 1957 the Bonnici’s painting was put back in its original place as it was given some maintenance by the Senglea artist Carmelo Spiteri.

     Somehow the Fraternity continued functioning up to the mid sixties but than it suffered the same fate like other Fraternities and stopped functioning all together, still the procession kept on being held up until the early seventies.

     In the archives of the parish there are many registers and documents of this Fraternity though a lot were lost during the war.

Ornaments and decorations        Like all other Fraternities this Fraternity strove not only to spread the devotion towards its patron St Joseph but also to decorate to its best means the altar and chapel in its care.        For the titular feast this altar had a set of gilded metal candlesticks which are now being used to decorate the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary a set of silver candlesticks which were used on the main altar now took their place. These silver candlesticks were removed from the main altar because they were no longer compatible with the updated liturgical ceremonies. These silver candles were made in 1960 by Francesco Cassar and in between these candlesticks there are six statuettes which represent prominent figures from the Old Testament, namely Moses, Abraham, David, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and they were made by Wistin Camilleri and gilded some years ago. The silver altar front was designed by Gioacchino Galea and was made overseas in the beginning of the last century. The silver missal was made just before the war on the design of the Senglean Guzeppi Caruana who was also responsible for other designs of work used both in the church and for outside decorations. The hanging oil lamp was made by Saverio Cannataci in 1831 and the altar cards were also made round about that period in Sicily. The top altar cloth made of velvet and embroidered in gold was made in 1984 by the firm Grixti Embroideries on the design of Salvu Bugeja.        The Fraternity also possesses some silver ornaments which are used during the procession. The white standard, simple in design, has the silk emblem which is made up of two lilies intertwined with each other embroidered on it; the silver standard pole made by Paolo Busuttil and the emblem on top of the pole also made by the silversmith Aloisio Dalmas. The procession leader’s pole has a small statue of St Joseph on top was made by Saverio Cannataci and the prefect’s medallion a piece of work in the Rococo style were made in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

      The statue of St Joseph has two silver halos one on top of St Joseph’s head and one on Jesus’ head. They were made by Paolo Schembri and were probably already used to decorate the old statue.

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