When, on the first day of the war against Italy in 1940, Father Salvatore went with his sacristan to the catacombs that were to shelter his flock in the terrible years of air-raids ahead, he took with him his ancient altar stone as a symbol of his faith; faith in God and in the indomitable spirit of the Maltese people. His strength, like Malta's, faltered but never broke. To this extent his story is Malta's, a story simple courage, endurance and find victory.