Girolamo Manduca’s De Sancto Publio

Girolamo Manduca, among the earliest Maltese members of the Society of Jesus,

undertook the compilation of local traditions concerning Publius, the protos of the

island, who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, hosted the Apostle Paul and his

shipwrecked companions for several days. Manduca is reputed to have drawn upon

unspecified ancient sources—both textual and oral—in assembling these accounts.

For the past three centuries, certain details included in Manduca’s narrative have