I was touched by the article in the London Catholic Herald by Fr Alexander Lucie Smith about Fr Prospero Grech OSA. He described him as the most intelligent man. It is well said and much more could have been said by those who lived with him for many years.

Fr Grech was not unique in the Austin Maltese Province. Besides Fr Grech, Mgr Emanuel Farrugia (1770), Bishop of Malipur, hailed from Valletta; Mgr Paul Micallef, prior general of the Order, administrator of the Gozo Diocese, Bishop of Sansepolcro, Archbishop of Pisa and Primate of Sardegna, was from Valletta; Mgr Gaetano Pace Forno, Bishop of Malta and Arcbishop of Rhodes, was from Gozo; Mgr John M. Camilleri, Bishop of Gozo, hailed from Valletta. Fr Joseph Debono from Mdina refused the bishopric of San Marco Argentano, Scalea, Reggio Calabria.

The newly-elected Cardinal Grech reminds me of another Austin Maltese Friar: Balthassar Fenech from Mosta. He was described by the Maltese well-known Capuchin friar, commonly known as Padre Pelagio (Barth. Mifsud), as the most brilliant of his times.

Padre Pelagio was at first a doctor, who then became a priest and prelate. Afterwards, he joined the Capuchin friars. He earned great esteem, especially in Rome and at the Roman Curia. Fr Balthassar Fenech was at birth registered as “Angelo”. He changed his name as was the habit joining the Augustinian Order. He hailed from Mosta and belonged to a noble family. He had already received Minor Orders when he joined the Augustinians and professed his religious vows on March 27, 1609. He went to Rome and was attatched to St Augustine’s Priory in Via Della Scrofa.

He had the same rights of the religious in that monastery. He was made Bachelor, Master of Sacred Theology and was a personal friend of Pope Ghigi, Alexander VII. He wanted to elect him bishop but he refused because he did not wish to leave Rome. He was well known in the Roman Sacred Congregations.

Fr Fenech was dedicated to the confessional. Many of his penitents were bishops, cardinals and princes. He was also popular with the people in the streets who, as soon as they saw him, used to say: “The Maltese monk is coming” and asked him to bless them. He was a Roman Patrician.

According to Fr Pelagio, he was the founder of the Angelica Library, which he built and reformed in St Augustine’s Priory, Rome and which is the first public library in Rome.

He died in Rome on June 4, 1663.

He commissioned two marble holy water fonts representing saints Gabriel and Raphael, which still are in St Augustine’s Basilica, Rome.