When is St Paul’s Shipwreck?
In 2026, St Paul’s Shipwreck falls on Tuesday, February 10, 2026. It is classified here as a Maltese public holiday.
History of St Paul’s Shipwreck
The Feast of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck remembers the episode in Acts in which Paul is said to have been shipwrecked on Malta while travelling to Rome. Whether read as scripture, tradition or national story, the account has had enormous influence on Malta’s religious imagination and on its claim to an early Christian heritage.
The feast is especially associated with Valletta’s Collegiate Parish of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, whose celebrations give the date a focused local intensity. Yet it is also a nationwide paid holiday, pairing parish devotion with an island-wide public pause. The procession, band music and decorated streets show how Maltese festa culture can turn a historical-religious memory into a living civic occasion.
The biblical account names Melite, traditionally identified in Malta with the islands, and describes the inhabitants receiving the shipwrecked travellers with unusual kindness. Maltese devotion connects the episode with Paul’s Grotto in Rabat and sites around St Paul’s Bay, while the principal February 10 festa belongs to Valletta’s collegiate parish.
St Paul’s Shipwreck remains on its named calendar date. Under Malta’s current employment rules, when a national or public holiday falls on Saturday, Sunday or another weekly rest day, an equivalent day is added to the employee’s annual vacation-leave entitlement rather than the holiday being universally moved to Monday.
How St Paul’s Shipwreck is observed
A nationwide paid public holiday on February 10. The largest devotional events are in Valletta; routes and opening hours may change during celebrations.
Traditions of St Paul’s Shipwreck
Valletta procession
The saint’s statue is carried through the capital in a major parish celebration. The exact form remains locally organised within Malta or Gozo.
Band music and decoration
Local bands, banners and decorated streets give the day the character of a Maltese festa. The exact form remains locally organised within Malta or Gozo.
Church worship
Masses and devotional visits recall the shipwreck narrative and Saint Paul’s place in Malta. The exact form remains locally organised within Malta or Gozo.
Dates and observance rules are checked against the official Malta government and employment-guidance sources. Public-office, school and private-employer schedules may differ from statutory public-holiday treatment.
History sources: Government of Malta: public holidays, Department for Industrial and Employment Relations: national and public holidays, Department for Industrial and Employment Relations: vacation leave and weekend-holiday entitlement.
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