An 82-year-old woman from Sliema has been conferred with a PhD from the Greenwich School of Theology and North-West University of South Africa.

Doris Cannataci’s thesis in Church and dogma history was entitled ‘The St Paul cult in Malta – an evaluation of the contributions of Mgr Giuseppe De Piro and St George Preca’.

The aim of this study was to examine the background to the cult of St Paul in Malta and to investigate the efforts of Mgr De Piro and St George Preca in safeguarding the Roman Catholic faith and the cult, specifically when Malta became a British colony under a Protestant administration, a period which also saw the infiltration of freemasonry.

The author elicited the common efforts of both individuals to protect the faith in the 19th and 20th centuries and concluded her research with an assessment of the extent to which their contributions remain applicable in the 21st century.

One of the examiners, Rev. Prof D. Ben Rees, described Cannataci’s study as “an immensely valuable contribution to the narration or the history of the Christian Church”.

There is much in-depth theological and historical research, seen from her vast bibliography, in her study. Cannataci utilised archival material such as letters, correspondence and decrees.

Cannataci possesses a BA in Religious Studies, an MA in Theology and an MPhil in Theology from the University of Malta.