1942 was the worst year in the war for Malta, when Nazi and Fascist forces based in Sicily carried out incessant air raids. On the morning of May 2nd, an anti-personnel bomb hurled by a Junker 88, fell right in the centre of the church parvis, exploding on impact, instantly killing 27 people as they ran for shelter into the church.

The façade of the church parvis still carries the scars of the splinters from the bomb. The memorial for the Żejtun war victims carries the names of the 27 who fell on that particular day.