Prostitutes, Nuns, Knights and Grand Masters: The Real Story Behind Valletta’s Latest Play

Valletta’s Pjazza Teatru Rjal is getting a nine-day run of a musical that’s all about nuns, prostitutes and knights. And while that might all sound spectacularly fictional, it’s actually based on very true happenings. The musical, Il-Ħanina Maddalena, was inspired by Magdalene Nuns and Penitent Prostitutes Valletta, a book by Christine Muscat.

The book speaks about, well, penitent prostitutes and Magdalene nuns, and here is truth behind a musical which will feature beloved Eurovision singer Chiara’s acting debut as a Mother Superior.

When the Order of St. John came to Malta in the 1500s, they were followed by their own groupies. Mercenaries from Rhodes, fans and some prostitutes too.

These girls had taken up residence on our island and sort of merged with the local sex workers around the harbour area. Fast forward to the 1580s, and efforts were being made to force these working women to refuse their profession and convert to live better lives.

So this guy, Oliviero Vasco, and his wife, set up a new church and home for the daughters of prostitutes. They later merged this house with another similar house close to St. John’s.

This started a new wave of people trying to convert prostitutes, amongst which was the Jesuit Andrea Agius, who opened two refuge homes for sex workers in order to support them. He was later arrested for consorting with prostitutes though, so we’re not really sure if that worked out well for the girls or not.

Eventually, the notorious Santa Maria Magdalena was founded in Merchants Street, Valletta. A cloister where penitent prostitutes would take vows of chastity, obedience and enclosure. In other words, they became nuns.

Another cloister, Saint Ursula’s, was founded by Grand Master de Verdalle in 1594 with the help of catholic nuns from Syracuse. These nuns mostly lived in poverty, so it was quite a bit of a struggle for them to keep afloat.

So the nuns offered prostitutes lodging and protection in return for money. Some of the prostitutes who converted even donated their possessions to the nuns. These girls struggled to make a living and keep themselves safe.

In 1637, a really strange addition to one of these cloisters was made. Flaminia Valenti, Grand Master de Paule’s mistress, joined the Magdalenes after his death.

She changed her name to Sister Dorothea and donated a bunch of riches to the convent, stating that she got them dishonestly. No juicy details were given.

At the time, these cloisters had a ‘No Oopsies’ rule. The nuns were forbidden from getting pregnant, like all nuns. But Sister Dorothea gave birth to a baby after three years of living in the cloister, so let’s all just take a moment to do the math.

The ex-Grand Master’s mistress gave birth to a daughter, who in turn took her vows upon reaching an adequate age, until she eventually left and started her own family.

Anyway, in 1610, Caterina Vitale, now buried in the Carmelite church in Valletta, accused a certain Knight, Fra (Yes) Jean-Paul Lascaris of being the lover of many nuns residing in the cloisters. She even brought up a lawsuit against the Magdalenes and had people testify of witnessing Lascaris behaving in an inappropriate manner around the nuns during carnival.

Eventually, when he became the Grand Master, he turned into the Carnival Scrooge and put a bunch of strict laws on the tradition.

These cloisters were embroiled in scandals and notorious court cases. At one point, the nuns’ spiritual counsellor, Vicar Azzopardi was accused of carrying out an affair with one of the nuns — visiting her every evening at night, leaving early in the morning.

Grand Master Pinto also housed one of his mistresses in this convent. Some say that this was done to hide their relationship, while others claimed that she totally wanted to become a nun.

She became known as Sister Melania Paulucci. During Pinto’s reign, Melania used to wait for him in his private box at the Manoel Theatre. Eventually she even became the Abbess of the convent and bore Pinto an illegitimate son.

These cloisters were eventually raided and closed down after the French invasion of 1798, and the Magdalene sisters were forced to join St. Catherine’s nunnery. Some were eventually re-instated by the British, but never the Magdalenes.

The cloister on Merchants Street was eventually hit by bombs during the war. It was badly damaged, but was rebuilt by the government. In turn it was handed over to Carnival organisers to be used as a workshop.

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