The Church of the Jesuits — formally the Church of the Circumcision of Our Lord — on Merchant Street is one of the oldest surviving Jesuit churches outside Italy, begun in 1592 by the newly established Collegium Melitense. The Jesuits were expelled from Malta in 1769 along with the rest of their order, and the church subsequently became the university church. The interior is substantially Baroque, with a detailed polychrome marble floor and side chapels decorated in the manner associated with 17th-century Jesuit interiors throughout Catholic Europe.
The church is usually open during the mornings and offers a quieter alternative to the always-busy St John's. The painted nave ceiling and the quality of the altar fittings are the main draws.