Frans H. Said, St Paul’s Bay
St Publius and a truth seeker
I do not know what makes Henry S. Pace tick (The Concern With Publius, February 4). I am not a fanatic. I just want to know the full truth about the historical event that occurred in the year 60AD. If the Maltese Curia, under the supervision of the Apostolic Nuncio is genuinely following the Gospel of Jesus Christ it should seek the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth.
The whole debacle started in 1844 when Floriana was made an independent parish. Certain members of the clergy (and only a few of them) resented losing their income. The resentment kept on simmering until the real reason was lost in oblivion. Then, a few decades ago a Conventual Franciscan monk, in connivance with a Capuchin monk set all out to discredit what is clearly written in the Acts of the Apostles and what was written by a saint and a doctor of the Church, namely The Venerable Bede who among other attributes was a great scholar of classical Greek and of the early history of the Church. I want to highlight the fact that St Bede is respected and venerated by major Christian religions.
It is unbelievable that centuries’ old traditions and teachings are ignored in an apparent way to satisfy the bigoted and spiteful who surely are not the true followers of Christ as per the Gospels. On the same basis as the traffic wardens who hide behind a corner, the Maltese Curia has downgraded St Publius to second or even third division. These actions include the curtailment from the readings of the Acts of the Apostles; ignoring the one and only official commemorative date of St Publius of Malta and Athens; changing the colour of vestments from red to white; that St Publius is hardly ever mentioned in the Eucharistic prayer; that his official feast, as listed in the Roman and Greek calendars of saints has been side tracked and in Malta is not even considered to be an obligatory feast let alone a solemnity; and the details of the place and date of the shipwreck of St Paul.
I do not want to believe in a lie but neither do I want that the lie is imposed on me and on the Curia oligarchy. What is the truth? This can only be ascertained by genuine, independent and unprejudiced non-Maltese scholars, versed in classical Greek and after having been through all the details as expounded by the Venerable Bede. What is wrong in my requests?
I feel we are treading on very dangerous ground. Once we start to question the writings of a doctor of the Church where shall we stop, what shall we believe? If we are not careful to study all the implications, then surely we could be dealing with a house of cards – when one removes one card all the others will collapse.
Can the local Curia and the Vatican declare if St Bede is to be believed and if not, give tangible and proper explanations?
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Jean Pierre Mifsud
Feb 7th, 21:23
The main fact was that St Publius was the first Maltese Government/Authority/Bishop(stand to interpetation) to recieve the Roman Catholic Baptism .
Lets be proud that Malta is included and mentioned in the Act of the Apostles.
Chris Gatt
Feb 8th, 12:21
"28.7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us, and courteously entertained us for three days. 28:8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick of fever and dysentery. Paul entered in to him, prayed, and laying his hands on him, healed him. 28:9 Then when this was done, the rest also who had diseases in the island came, and were cured. 28:10 They also honored us with many honors, and when we sailed, they put on board the things that we needed."
No word of baptism there
Mr C Busuttil
Feb 7th, 20:49
Mr. Said
Who gives a hoot about Publius except a number of ever dwindling furjanizi. Even stones know that the Publius of the Act of Apostles and the one who received martyrdom are not the same person, unless Floriana's Patron lived over a 100 years. Xi kien Highlander jew?
The name Publius was quite popular in Roman times therefore to claim that the Floriana's Publius is the one of was thrown to the lions is just as saying that Chalie was thrown, but which Chalie ?
Publius and his martyrdom are just an invention to embelish the obscure figure of the person who is said to have been the first bishop of Malta. Whether he was a saint or not nobody will ever know not even the Vatican unless you believe that the Pope has some time machine and can make a jump back in history to verify things for you.
However I think that since the feast the St. Paul's Shipwreck is approaching the old rivalry with Valletta is the reason why this issue was raised.
Besides stop mentioning the Venerable Bede, he quoted from documents that probably date at the earliest from the 4th century those of Eusebius of Caesaria. All that is before that age is only tradition, historians are not even sure about the names of the early Popes let alone Publius who was once the governor of an insignificant tiny island in the vast Roman Empire.
If your Publius was so important he would have had a cult like that of Sebastian of Qormi, Lawrence of Vittoriosa or Paul the father of Maltese, when in all truth he's only remembered by some furjanizi.
Henry S Pace
Feb 7th, 17:57
St Publius
With reference to Simon Busuttil's letter San Gorg Not The First Maltese Saint (June 6), I would like, for the sake of clarity to draw attention to the fact that St Publius patron saint of Floriana is not the St Publius we find in Acts 28: 7-8.
The first, whose feast is celebrated in Floriana every January, was a second century bishop of Athens, martyred under emperor Mark Aurelius circa 161-170 AD.
There is no evidence in sacred scripture or in any other historical source (as far as we know) to confirm that the Publius we find in Acts 28 was consecrated as Bishop of Malta by St Paul before he left the island for Rome.
Unfortunately, this misunderstanding was brought about by the Venerable Bede (673-735) who, in his Martyrologium Romanum Parvum, wrongly identified and confused St Publius bishop and martyr of Athens with the St Publius we find in Act 28:7.
The latter, thought to be born in Malta but of Roman lineage, is described in Acts 28:7 as Princip tal-Gzira (Prince of the island (Bibbja Ghaqda Biblika Maltija 2004)) Hakem tal-Gzira (Governor or ruler of the island (Bibbja Saydon 1995)); Chief of the island (NAB 1979, Christian Community Bible 2nd edition, Good News Bible 2004).
None of the above versions identify Publius of Acts 28:7 as bishop of Malta.
It is my wish that this letter is taken in the spirit of a fair exchange of information and not as criticism, in fact, I also stand to be corrected.
Henry S Pace
Feb 7th, 20:59
With apologies to Adeliade M Zerafa , Balzan.
Edward Mallia
Feb 7th, 14:24
Standing to one side from the ravings of Frans Said and the antipodeal twitterings of William Flynn:
What is the Venerable Bede ( Did he really have much contact with Greek, as against Latin texts, in far-away Newcastle?) supposed to have said about the Roman Publius? The Greek Publius - a bishop in Athens apparently- lived around 165AD. That date cannot fit the Roman Publius. Now if the Church of Floriana wants to leave the Fold if the powers-that-be argue that the Roman Publius is not the Greek Publius, it should be given leave to do so. We can do without such a high level of parish-pump religion, which only serves to give people like Flynn the impression that they are top-notch members of the Hall of Mockers.
FRANS H SAID
Feb 7th, 16:26
before you join the fray, at least read all sources. What you have said is a mishmash that does not make sense.
In any case, I want real honest answers. St Beda was (and is still considered to be) a Greek scholar. He was declared to be a doctor of the church only recently (19th century). His writings are still relevant today in regards to the early history of the church. Even the Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church, the Luterans and many others venerate St Beda.
Irrispective of all this, and as I have said, I do not want to believe a lie. But one must first study all sources, including the Acts of Peter & Paul and many Greek philisophers. Finally it is up the the Vatican to declare once and for all the full truth. A Pope had declared St Publius to be the Patron Saint of Malta. It must another Pope to state anything to the contrary.
Who would you believe, a doctor of the Church, a very strict Pope, or some Maltese bigot who lived a life of hatred and spite? If St Publius is the saint as per authorative writings, the Maltese Curia must give him his due, if he is not, remove him COMPLETELY. But the way the local Curia is acting is like a football fanatic, or a political fanatical bigot, doing things behind the scenes without even informing the "faithful" of what and why it does so.
And then we worry about the hatred and divisions in our parishes. It is the very clergy that have caused these divisions and the curia does not want to take any positive action to bring about unity. What the curia has been doing is to deepen the rift even further.
Do not ask why many have lost their faith - ask why the clergy, with the connivance of the Curia and the Archbishop have been instilling so much spite and hatered.
Do not be alarmed that there no more declared (canonised) Maltese Saints. Our small island mentality only thrives on hatred and the Church of Christ who preached love has NEVER done anything about this great and grave problem.
The Clergy and the curia are human beings, subject to human faults. They should lead by example but are too proud to admit mistakes. They forget the very teachings of Jesus who had said "If you are going to the altar with your offerings and remember that you are at loggerheads with your brother, leave your offerings on the side, and first go and make peace with your brother."
Do those members of the curia ever read these blogs. Ofcourse not. it is deaming for them to hear the people.
William Flynn
Feb 7th, 10:38
(With apologies to “Gigi” and those who remember it.)
Ah yes! I remember it well.
We saw a whale.
It was a sail!
It berthed close by.
It was a wreck!
You were in red... no it was white.
You silly fool, I was in blue.
We dined on cake.
He found a snake!
Ah yes! I remember it well.