On April 12, 1914, which was Easter Sunday, the Maltese Franciscan custody of St John the Baptist became the Maltese Franciscan province of St Paul the Apostle. The Friars Minor (OFM) are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of their religious province in Malta, within the context of the foundation of other religious provinces in the island during the same period.

Historical research regarding this important event for the Maltese OFM Franciscans, popularly known locally as il-patrijiet ta’ Ġieżu, from the titular dedication of their two first churches of Santa Maria di Gesù in Rabat and Valletta, has been exhaustively published by the province’s late eminent historian, Fr Ġorġ Aquilina OFM. The information included in this article is taken from his latest publication on the history of the presence of the Franciscan OFM friars in the Maltese islands.

The discovery of new documents in the Vatican Archives in the 1990s led to a radically new approach to the history of the origins of Franciscan presence in Malta. Fr Aquilina and Prof. Stanley Fiorini were instrumental in this new way of looking not only at the beginning of Franciscan presence in the Maltese islands, but indeed at the origin of religious orders in Malta during the late Middle Ages. The initial reactions to their discoveries varied from enthusiastic acceptance to outright rejection on the part of those who continued to hold on to traditional, but poorly documented, positions.

According to these two historians, the entry of religious orders in Malta coincided with the enthusiastic reform of the Church advocated by the Council of Constance (1414), after the Western Schism (1378-1417). Thus, we witness the earliest documentation of the presence of Augustinians in Malta in 1413, although their effective arrival can also be traced as far back as 1370.

The Benedictine presence is linked with the hospital of San Pietro in Mdina, founded in 1418, which was changed into a Benedictine nunnery in 1455, although another monastery, the nunnery of St Scholastica was already in existence in 1443. The Dominicans were already present in Rabat at the priory of Our Lady of the Grotto during the jubilee year 1450. The Carmelites traditionally trace their origins to 1418, and their presence at Il-Lunzjata outside Rabat is documented in 1441.

In the case of the Franciscans, it seems that the earliest documents refer to the construction of a friary dedicated to Santa Maria de Jhesu in Gozo in 1489, through the initiative of Fra Matteo de Episcopo, of the Observant Franciscans. The same friar seems to have changed obedience since he became guardian of the Conventual friary of St Francis in Rabat, and in 1492 the friary in Gozo is referred to as being a Conventual establishment dedicated to St Francis.

The case of the hospital of Santo Spirito, which was already in existence in 1372, is also linked with a Franciscan presence in a church and friary in Rabat, although historical research has proved that this was not a presence of the First Order, but of the Third Order Regular, which was taking care of the same institution known as Hospitalis Sancti Francisci in 1459. The last Regular Tertiary left in 1494, and the church and friary passed over to the First Franciscan Order, in this case to the Conventual family.

The 15th century witnessed the progress of the reformed Observant family in the Franciscan Order. Heir of the more orthodox elements of the Fraticelli, formally condemned by Pope John XXII in 1317, but still in existence in Sicily and Calabria where their most famous promoter, Angelo Clareno died in 1337, the Observant family was born in Umbria in two moments, namely in 1334 through the initiative of Giovanni da Valle and Gentile da Spoleto, and after a short period of suppression in 1354, once again in 1368 through the efforts of Paoluccio dei Trinci da Foligno.

With the entry of great saints in the Franciscan Order, such as Bernardine of Siena, John of Capistrano, James of the March, and with the support of Pope Eugene IV, the Observant family grew to become the dominant Franciscan family during the 15th century. At the same time, however, the order was still being governed by the unreformed Conventual ministers, whereas the Observants were allowed to have their own vicars.

This state of affairs remained substantially unaltered until 1517 when Pope Leo X formally split the Order of Friars Minor into the two families of the Conventuals and Observants. Thus, the period we are dealing with marks a watershed in the history of the order, but at the same time it was a moment when distinction between the two families was not so clear as it would be from the 16th century onwards, since the order was substantially one undivided family.

The Observant Franciscans came to Malta from Sicily, where they had various churches and friaries, all dedicated to Santa Maria di Giesu, the result of the reform of Blessed Matteo of Agrigento, a disciple of St Bernardine of Siena.

The first attempt to found a friary of Observant Franciscans in Malta was on November 7, 1482, according to the Bulla Pia Fidelium. It was not implemented, but on April 6, 1492, Giacomo Ħakim, a Giurato of Mdina, left in his testament a legacy in favour of his brother, the Observant Franciscan Mariano Ħakim, who was living in the friary of Santa Maria di Gesù in Messina, to found an Observant friary and church with same title in Malta.

The request was renewed two years later, and on January 29, 1494, the Bulla Apostolicae Servitutis was published, giving permission to Fra Mariano to build the church and friary. Since he died, things remained at a stalemate until 1497, when the Mdina Giurati requested the nomination of a procurator, so that they themselves would see to the building of the church and friary and hand them over to the Observant Franciscans. Thus, at the beginning of the 16th century there were two Franciscan churches and friaries in Rabat, one belonging to the Conventual Franciscans and the other to the Observant Franciscans.

There was no way that the Sicilian provincials would accept any division from the mother province

As the centuries passed, the Observant Franciscans in Malta formed part of the Province of Val di Noto e Malta, one of the three Observant Sicilian provinces (the other two were Val di Mazzara and Val di Demone). The Observants in Malta, in the meantime, had two friaries, both dedicated to Santa Maria di Gesù, one in Rabat, and the other in Valletta, founded in 1571, during the reign of Grand Master Pietro del Monte.

The reign of Grand Master Manoel Pinto de Fonseca (1741-1773) and of the other subsequent grand masters up till the ousting of the Order of St John from Malta by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, marked a moment of social and political change, in which the spirit of enlightenment and nationalism began to pervade the Maltese society. Religious orders were also influenced by this quest for greater autonomy, and they wanted to be freed from Sicilian hegemony and depend directly from their superiors in Rome.

The Observant Franciscans in Malta had two friaries, which were among the most important in the province of Val di Noto. There was no way that the Sicilian provincials would accept any division from the mother province. In 1740, the Capuchins succeeded in becoming an autonomous custodia of the Sicilian province. This fact led to new hopes among other religious orders, among which the Franciscan Observants.

Other attempts by local religious provinces to gain autonomy from the Sicilian mother provinces had proved to be a failure. A case in point was the attempt by the Carmelites, who succeeded in acquiring a papal Bulla giving them independence from the Sicilian province in 1752. Unfortunately their autonomy was short-lived, as they were forced back into obedience to their Sicilian superiors in 1755.

The reign of Grand Master Pinto was marked by intrigues between the Order of St John and the Kingdom of Naples. Pinto considered himself a prince in his own right on the islands, which were a fief of the kingdom in the hands of the Order. He sought ways to bring about greater self-determination by using the religious orders’ quest for autonomy. At the same time, he outwardly wanted to appear respectful to the King of Naples and his anti-clerical ministers.

In 1768, Pinto agreed to the suppression of the Jesuit College in Valletta. In the meantime, the quality of religious life in Malta had gone from bad to worse. Apostolic and general visitations were carried out by inquisitors and visitators, which indicate the deplorable state of religious discipline. The Observant Franciscans, through their local superiors, were doing their best to break loose from the control of the tribunal of the Regia Monarchia, and were looking at the possibility to make direct recourse to Rome and gain autonomy.

In order to succeed in their plans, the Franciscans needed to acquire a third friary according to the order’s legislation. Since they only possessed the friaries of Rabat and Valletta, in 1764 they opted to acquire the hermitage of Santa Venera from the collegial chapter of Birkirkara. The Sicilian provincial, Vincenzo Maria da Avola, protested in front of the tribunal of the Regia Monarchia and accused the Maltese friars of being dangerous innovators. The friars were sure they would be helped by the grand master and Bishop Bartolomeo Rull, and presented their formal request for the establishment of a Maltese Franciscan custodia to the General Commissary Pasquale Frosconi da Varese.

Since things seemed to become complicated, two Maltese friars, Accursio Stuppia and Giovanni Nicola Falzon, agreed to go personally to Rome to speak with the minister general about the matter. On October 28, 1764, they left the island, seemingly with Pinto’s consent. What the friars did not know was that Pinto kept constant correspondence with the Order’s ambassador in Rome, Fra Laurent le Tonnellier Baron de Breteuil. He immediately made it clear that he did not want to offend the King of Naples.

The two friars got the shock of their lives when they arrived at the general curia of the Franciscan Order at Aracoeli in Rome, and were declared fugitives and excommunicated. De Breteuil initially interceded for them and they were welcomed in a friary in Rome. Thus the two friars presented their Memoriale to the Pope, but to no effect, since the order’s ambassador was keen on not creating tension between Pinto and the King of Naples.

Back in Malta, things were getting very tense between the Maltese friars and their Sicilian confreres on the island. On his part, Grand Master Pinto tried to remain aloof from the whole issue so as not to irritate the Neapolitan royal court. His hypocritical attitude towards the Maltese Franciscans reached a climax on June 8, 1765, when a decree was published in Naples declaring the two Maltese Franciscans who presented themselves in Rome to be perpetually exiled from the domains of the Kingdom of Naples, and hence also from the Maltese islands.

Pinto was aware of this decree and did nothing to protect the two friars who had originally thought the grand master would uphold the legitimate desire for autonomy on the part of the Maltese Franciscans. The grand master even kept correspondence with royal minister Tanucci and with ambassador De Breteuil, congratulating them for the decision of the Tribunale della Regia Monarchia.

When the two Franciscans concluded their mission in Rome on January 20, 1767, they thought they could return to Malta. They were not even aware that their fate had been sealed one-and-a-half years before and that they had been exiled from their homeland.

We do not know what later happened to the two friars, except that Stuppia died in exile on September 9, 1776, in the friary of San Francesco in Camerino in the Marches, and that Falzon died in Valletta on April 24, 1781, after the minister general Pasquale da Varese interceded on his behalf.

This sad turn of events had its negative effects in Malta. Apathy reigned supreme in the two Franciscan friaries. The King of Naples prohibited the entry of Maltese novices in the Franciscan Order. In a few years, the number of vocations dwindled. Grand Master De Rohan even contemplated merging the friary of Santa Maria di Gesù in Rabat to the College of the Conventual Chaplains of St Paul’s Grotto, and there were also attempts to give the friary to the Capuchins in order to avoid its suppression.

It was in this critical time that the minister general of the order finally decided to intervene in favour of the Maltese friars. Pasquale di Varese published a decree on January 5, 1790, in which he established the two friaries in Malta as a custodia, and nominated Gaetano [Mallia] di Malta as the general delegate to convoke a chapter to elect the custos and his council. Fr Venanzio Fenech was elected as first custos and the novitiate was founded. The new custodia was dedicated to St John the Baptist.

This first foundation of the Maltese custodia was, however, short-lived. The protests of the Sicilian friars to the king and the pressure on Grand Master De Rohan and even on Pope Pius VI, during a delicate moment for relations between the papacy and France, prompted the grand master to issue a decree on October 26, 1791, revoking the privilege of the Maltese Franciscans to be an autonomous custodia.

The Sicilian provincial, Ignazio di Caltagirone, came to Malta, removed the custos from office and returned matters to the way they were before 1790. The ousting of the Order of St John from Malta by Napoleon in 1798, during the time when the provincial was a Maltese, Sebastiano Barone from Senglea, the last Maltese provincial in Sicily, effectively sealed the end of relations between the Maltese and their Sicilian confreres.

With the turbulent period of French domination, followed by British rule, Malta underwent a radical change. With regard to religious orders, the British were adamant that these should not depend any longer upon their superiors in Sicily and upon the King of Naples.

In 1801, the British Commissioner, Charles Cameron, wrote to Bishop Vincenzo Labini informing him that, henceforth, religious orders were to depend solely upon their superiors in Rome. From that moment, the Maltese religious had a commissary delegate representing their interests to their Sicilian superiors. This was just the first step towards autonomy.

Cesal embarked on a courageous programme of reform. This was a moment of rebirth for the Franciscan Order

When Malta passed definitely to British rule after the Treaty of Paris of 1814, Governor Thomas Maitland continued to insist that monastic and religious orders had to gain full autonomy and break away from Sicily and the pretensions of the religious and secular authorities of the Kingdom of Naples.

The pretensions of the Sicilian friars continued for a long time, but to no avail, even though some Maltese friars were still in favour of union with Sicily. Among them was Salvatore Anton Vassallo, who for many years was guardian in Rabat and who also became custos of the Holy Land in 1816-1820.

At long last, on July 26, 1838, the minister general, Giuseppe Maria Maniscalco from Alessandria, himself a Sicilian friar, declared the two Maltese friaries to be an independent custodia with the title of St John the Baptist. As first custos he chose Salvatore Anton Vassallo, who had already been general delegate from 1821 to 1838 and who would remain in his role until 1851, and again in 1854-55. Unfortunately this friar clung on to power until his old age and had to be forcefully removed from his role by minister general Venanzio da Celano.

The rest of the 19th century was marked by turbulent events in Europe, where religious orders suffered at the hands of secularist regimes. In Malta, the Franciscan custodia suffered from inertia, as a result of the long years of rule of Vassallo, until providence donated to the order a holy and capable minister general in the person of Bernardino dal Vago da Portogruaro (1869-1889), and to the Maltese Franciscans a dynamic leader who would refound Franciscan presence in Malta, namely Anton Maria Cesal.

On July 30, 1877, the minister general, Bernardino dal Vago, wrote a letter to Cesal, who although a Maltese friar, was a member of the Aracoeli province in Rome, sending him to Malta as custos. Cesal had formerly been a missionary in Bolivia (1864-1869) and in Egypt (1870-1876) where there were many Maltese. In 1887, he was also pro-secretary of the Holy Land Custody in Jerusalem. He obeyed promptly and even requested to pass over from the Roman province to the Maltese custodia. Cesal was custos from 1876 to 1883, and again from 1899 to 1902.

Cesal embarked on a courageous programme of reform. New vocations arrived. He opened two new friaries, namely the Sacro Cuor friary in Sliema (1883) and St Anthony friary in Għajnsielem (1899). He was also contemplating establishing the Friars Minor at St Paul’s Bay.

This was a moment of rebirth for the Franciscan Order. In 1897, Pope Leo XIII had published Felicitate Quadam, in which the reformed families of the Franciscan Observance dropped their names and differences, and henceforth were known simply as Ordo Fratrum Minorum (Order of Friars Minor).

In the meantime, all the other religious in Malta had been constituted as autonomous provinces in their orders. Cesal worked tirelessly to accomplish this, especially by increasing the Franciscan presence on the island. He was against the order’s plan to join the Maltese Franciscan Custody to Egypt and Cyprus, and insisted that the Maltese Franciscans had sufficient numbers and means to become an independent province in the order.

By the end of the 19th century, the Maltese custody had more friars than its mother province of Val di Noto. A memorandum was written by the Franciscan historian Fr Ġorġ Scerri, signed by all the Maltese friars, and sent to the minister general, requesting an apostolic dispensation so that the Maltese custodia could become a province.

The minister general of the order at the time was Pacifico Monza (1911-1915). In 1914, he came over to Malta for a general visitation. On April 7, 1914, he issued in Rome the decree of the foundation of the Maltese Franciscan province, with the title of St Paul the Apostle. The original decree, however, was published at the Ta’ Ġieżu friary in Valletta on Easter Sunday, April 12, 1914. As first minister provincial of Malta he fittingly chose Cesal.

The new minister provincial convoked the Definitorium on July 1, 1914. The members of the new government of the province were: Giovanni Evangelista Spiteri, provincial custos (vicar); Luigi Attard, Emmanuel Formosa, Vincenzo Xuereb, and Francesco Galea (definitors).

Cesal was due to convoke a second meeting on December 16, 1914, but he died on December 14 after only eight months in office. He can be rightly considered to be the father of the Maltese OFM province.