It is little known that a Maltese family is intimately related to two cardinals of the 19th century, namely Cardinal Sceberras Testaferrata and Cardinal Trigona.
The first and best known cardinal locally was Fabrizio Sceberras Testaferrata, born on April 1, 1757 in Valletta; he studied in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1802 aged 44. He was ordained Bishop on December 21, 1802 and Titular Archbishop of Berytus. He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland in 1803 and Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars in 1815.
In 1816 he was elevated to a Cardinal ‘in pectore’, appointed Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana on April 6, 1818, when he was also appointed Bishop of Senigallia in The Marches, Italy. On that same day he was elevated to a Cardinal.
He died on August 3, 1843, aged 86. He participated in his first conclave between September 2 and 28, 1823, which elected Pope Leo XII as Supreme Pontiff. His second conclave took place between March 24 and 31, 1829, which elected Pope Pius VIII. The Maltese Cardinal’s last conclave, which elected Pope Gregory XVI, was also his longest, lasting from December 14, 1830 to February 2, 1831. By this time, Cardinal Sceberras Testaferrata was among the most senior in the College of Cardinals. He was never absent from a conclave.
He was the son of Pasquale Sceberras Testaferrata and Lucrezia Dorell and was baptised on April 3, 1757. His last name is also listed as Testaferrata Sceberras, as Xeberras and as Scriberras. He was educated at the Collegio Clementino in Rome from 1771, and La Sapienza University in Rome, where he obtained his doctorate ‘in utroque jure’ (meaning in both Canon and civil laws) on November 26, 1785. When he served as Nuncio in Switzerland from 1803 until 1816, he was also appointed Titutal Archbishop of Edessa (Sanliurfa in eastern Turkey).
Cardinal Gaetano Maria Trigona E Parisi was born in Piazza Armerina (Enna), Sicily on June 2, 1767. He was appointed Bishop of Caltagirone in 1818 and to the See of Palermo on April 15, 1833. On June 23, 1834 he was elevated to a Cardinal of Palermo. He died during a plague epidemic which hit the city, on June 23, 1837, at the age of 70. He had not had sufficient time to collect his Cardinal’s biretta in Rome. He was buried in the convent of Baida, five kilometres outside Palermo, and 167 metres above the city. A monument to his memory is to be found in the Cathedral of Palermo.