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Emily Barbaro-Sant, Siltiet mill-Imgħoddi ta’ Ħajti, A&M Printing, 2011. 265 pp.
It was way back in the mid-1990s that I heard for the first time of Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisani, the Benedictine nun of the Mdina Monastery whose cause for beatification was initiated in the first decade of the 20th century.
The book falls into the category of the autobiography, but Siltiet mill-Imgħoddi ta’ Ħajti is much more than that. It is the heart-breaking story of a project definitely inspired by heaven, but which unfortunately turned sour due to the misleading machinations of human subtlety. It is the case of God made every-thing well, but we humans confuse his plans continuously.
In the first pages of her book, Emily Barbaro-Sant goes back to her roots and provides us with colourful information regarding her background. Floriana, the birthplace of such renowned authors as Oliver Friggieri, Alexander Bonnici and Herbert Ganado witnessed the birth of this lady who, through her marriage, was destined to mix with one of the oldest aristocratic families of our native Malta. The marriage produced five children; one boy and four girls, who shared in the joys and pains of their parents. The marriage was conducted at the parish of St Publius in Floriana and was presided by the then parish priest Fr Carmelo Xuereb (later on Vicar General of the Maltese archdiocese).
The autobiography comes to a climax as Barbaro-Sant narrates the occasion when the superior at St Peter’s Monastery in Mdina expressed a wish that Barbaro-Sant’s husband Arthur would take the responsibility of the process that would lead to the eventual beatification of Maria Adeodata Pisani. Since that day in 1989, the author and her husband began the way that was to lead to their ‘calvary’.
History shows us that every holy task comes across various difficulties, most of them from unexpected sources
Whether this is an exaggeration or not can only be verified as the reader goes through the publication. The manner in which Barbaro-Sant blends together her autobiography with the minute details of the beatification procedures makes Siltiet Mill-Imgħoddi ta’ Ħajti a book of a singular nature. I have read hundreds of autobiographies but this one stands out in a distinct manner.
Barbaro-Sant’s magnum opus, as we can perhaps safely call it, throws light on the quite unfriendly bureaucracy that is characteristic of beatification processes. Although it should be added that hundreds of meetings with cardinals, archbishops, nuncios and other prelates of the Holy Roman Church did bring to the fore the good and friendly qualities of high clerics such as the renowned Cardinal Francis Arinze, the late Apostolic Nuncio Mgr Luis Laboa and the deceased Bishop Emeritus of Gozo Mgr Nikol Cauchi.
To be fair to the text, I cannot leave unmentioned the contrasting behaviour of others, which must have been a cause of bewilderment and sometimes even agony to the Barbaro-Sant couple. Strangely enough, the book does not reveal any antagonism from the side of the receiving end. The author of the book deserves to be added to the list of Maltese ladies whose charitable work has earned them a prominent place in the local female establishment.
The Barbaro-Sants’ sterling work in favour of those children who suffer from spina bifida and related conditions is not to be underestimated, considering that the main focus of the book is on the beatification process for Maria Adeaodata Pisani.
I have to say that although I enjoyed reading the book due to the refined language in which it is written and its engaging subject, I struggled to come to the end, due to the sad circumstances that enveloped the entire process that was to lead to the eventual beatification of the first Maltese Benedictine nun.
The book proves right the Maltese proverb Il-bniedem jipproponi imma Alla jiddisponi. History shows us that every holy task comes across various difficulties, most of them from unexpected sources, before coming to its fulfilment. The beatification of Maria Adeodata Pisani is a case in point.
The late Marquis Arthur Barbaro-Saint must have rejoiced from the heavens upon seeing the beautiful liturgy of the beatification that took place on that sunny day of May 2001, in the presence of Pope John Paul II. The rest is history.