Both Holger Mitterer and Albert Cilia Vincenti wrote letters denouncing the study of Latin (The Sunday Times of Malta, September 6 and 13). Their chagrin is incomprehensible. Latin is a fascinating language, but I leave it to some other professor to write at length about the beauty and usefulness of this old language.

Latin is a scientific language and for millennia it was used as the lingua franca of most European states and the Catholic Church throughout the entire world.

I studied it at school along with Italian. It did not deter me from studying other languages at the same time. In fact I studied French, Spanish and Arabic – both Classical and Colloquial, the living language of Egypt, on my own.

No student of Maltese history can do very well without a working knowledge of Latin. Lawyers and notaries in paticular are in a better postion if they possess a good knowledge of the language.

My last work concerning this ancient language is a translation into Maltese of those parts relative to Gozo of Monsignor Pietro Dusina’s Apostolic Visit Report of 1575. It was published in August 2014.