St Paul is the Patron Saint of Malta and the anniversary of the shipwreck is now a public holiday celebrated with a feast.
The Legend of St Paul and the Viper
This is a well known legend. It is believed that St Paul was gathering wood to add to the fire to warm himself and the other shipwrecked people when out of the sticks came a venomous viper that bit him. The Maltese people present expected him to die of poisoning but instead no harm came to him. It is said that from that day snakes and scorpions in Malta are quite harmless and not poisonous.
