1 post tagged “licentious”

Even though Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, there are nevertheless places you can walk that take you into the countryside and you can feel as though you are far from the madding crowd. One such place is a walk down a steep gorge into the valley that time forgot where a shepherd tends his flock of sheep and goats and there is a very pretty chapel called The Church of St Paul the Hermit built in an enclave on the side of the cliff.

The church displays information about its history. According to legend, there was once a saintly man who was a hermit and lived in the enclave. However, rather than keep himself to himself as you might imagine a good hermit should, he took to berating the local shepherds for their 'licentious' lifestyles. I had to look that one up in my mobile phone's dictionary. To save any readers who are as ignorant as me from doing the same, it means immoral, lewd and lascivious. I'm not quite sure how some shepherds living in the middle of nowhere would have had the opportunity for such a lifestyle, regardless of their desire. Perhaps their sheep bore the brunt of it. Anyway, one day after a particularly sharp rebuke from the hermit, the shepherds set upon him, threw stones at him and then chased him to the shore. At this point, according to the story, the hermit hopped onto his cloak and floated to Gozo where he lived happily ever after. This floating cloak routine so impressed the shepherds that they repented their wickedness (possibly to the great relief of their flock) and built the church in his honour.