Old age silences the ‘little lamb’

The last thing Sr Carmela Muscat heard before falling asleep on Saturday night was the Magnificat, her favourite thanksgiving hymn, being sung to her by her Mother Superior.

Sr Carmela died the following morning, age 105, at the Convent of the Sacred Heart’s Tal-Virtù home for the elderly where she lived for the past 20 years.

“On Saturday night, I sang her the song. She looked up at me and told me: ‘Thank you’. That was the last time I spoke to her,” Sr Katie Mifsud said adding that, over the past few months, Sr Carmela was too weak to sing the song herself.

Sr Carmela’s passion for the hymn, dedicated to God by the Virgin Mary, had sparked off a tradition at the Tal-Virtù home as nuns now sing it together when they celebrate someone’s birthday.

In an interview with The Times last September, she sang the whole tune even though she struggled to catch her breath between verses.

Sr Carmela, who was believed to be the oldest living person in Malta, was born on December 9, 1905. There are no official records of who is the oldest person on the island.

She was born in Birkirkara and was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. The family eventually moved to Sliema. At the age of 20, she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart.

“I always wanted to be a nun,” Sr Carmela had said in a gentle voice during the interview.

Six months after taking her vows, she left Malta and moved to England. In 1937, she went to America where she spent 42 years. There she was known as the “little lamb” due to her small build and gentle ways.

Sr Carmela returned to Malta in 1979 to serve in the new parish-based community in Żejtun and later moved to the Fgura community. Aged 84, she joined the community at Tal-Virtù in 1993.

Sr Carmela’s funeral will be held today at the Archbishop’s Seminary (within which the home is located) at 9 a.m.