in cemeteries outside the cities' fortifications. the deceased of birgu were buried at il-hisieli. people were also buried at a cemetery in cospicua known as iċ-ċimiterju tal-infetti (cemetery for infectious diseases), which still exists today. the deceased from birkirkara, gudja and qormi were buried in village cemeteries, while those in żurrieq, kirkop, rabat, mosta, bubaqra and attard were buried in churches, mostly ones which were disused. religious beliefs the sarria church, built as thanksgiving after the end of the plague. there was a religious revival during the epidemic, resulting in the veneration of the blessed sacrament and relics. there was particular devotion to patron saints of the plague-infected such as saint roch and saint sebastian, and also to other saints including our lady, saint rosalia, saint nicholas and saint anne. the historian bartholomeo dal pozzo attributed the epidemic as divine retribution against the population for their sins. a number of niches and churches were built to give thanks by survivors of the plague, including the sarria church in floriana, which was rebuilt by the order after a vow made during the epidemic. this building was designed by mattia preti, who was in malta at the time of the epidemic and survived by staying in żurrieq. customs after the plague epidemic ended, attempts were made to improve medical teaching in malta. on 19 october 1676, cotoner appointed giuseppe zammit as lettore in anatomy and surgery at the sacra infermeria. this formalisation of medical training is regarded as the predecessor of the medical school of the university of malta. the traditional mourning customs of the maltese seem to have changed as a result of the 1676 plague. before the epidemic, mourning periods would last for one or two years, and three days after a person died no fire would be lit in the kitchen in the house of the deceased. women would not go out for forty days, while men would go out unshaven after eight days. these could not be practiced during the epidemic, and they were abandoned in favour of wearing black. after the outbreak, quarantine and disinfection of mail were adopted in malta. the next major outbreak of plague in the maltese islands occurred in 1813–14. medical and literary works in 1677, laurentius haseiah (or hasciac) published de postrema melitensi lue praxis historica in palermo. this was a study of plague which recorded the 1675–76 epidemic and called it "the worst epidemic on record", and it was the first medical work to be published by a maltese. don melchiore giacinto calarco from licata, sicily wrote a poem called melpomene idillio nella peste di malta about the 1676 epidemic in malta. it is dedicated to the spanish knight fra don ernaldo mox, and it was published in catania in 1677.