Mgr Michael Azzopardi's name is synonymous with Id-Dar tal-Providenza, a monument of distinctive love for the disabled person, he founded on a stretch of land in a particularly beautiful area where the Royal Navy once had a rest camp.
The complex in Siġġiewi is, in fact, the fruit of a dream Mgr Azzopardi had of helping to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities who, for one reason or another, could not remain living with their natural parents.
He had launched this intention way back in 1965, during a radio programme. A young lady who heard the programme was quick to contact him to offer a cheque for Lm100 - the money she had saved for a holiday abroad. Mgr Azzopardi made the first step with just that sum of money, along with his deep-rooted trust in Divine Providence. He knew very well the challenge ahead was very big. Perhaps the biggest hurdle was to enable persons with disabilities to gain the deserved respect and dignity and to allow them to have equal opportunities within society, something which, at the time, was easier said than done.
The 100th anniversary of Mgr Azzopardi's birth (February 10, 1910) should, therefore, serve, primarily, to further strengthen our personal and national resolve not only to continue to sustain the institution he founded but also to uphold ever more the dignity and rights of the disabled person, inspired and encouraged by his evangelic example.
The cornerstone of such resolve should also be the spiritual heritage of Dun Mikiel, as he was affectionately known, namely his teaching by word and deed that human beings, independently of the conditions in which they live or of what they are able to express, have a unique dignity and a special value from the very beginning of their life until the moment of natural death.
Mgr Azzopardi's witness shows that, as Pope John Paul II once said, the disabled person, with all the limitations and suffering that scar him or her, forces us to question ourselves, with respect and wisdom, on the mystery of man. In fact, the more we move about in the dark and unknown areas of human reality, the better we understand that it is in the more difficult and disturbing situations that the dignity and grandeur of the human being emerges.
The wounded humanity of the disabled challenges us to recognise, accept and promote in each one of these brothers and sisters of ours the incomparable value of the human being created by God. Even when disabled persons are mentally impaired or when their sensory or intellectual capacity is damaged, they are fully human beings and possess the sacred and inalienable rights that belong to every human creature. Mgr Azzopardi, who died on May 13, 1987 at the age of 77, remains one of Malta's most prominent philanthropists. His altruistic witness should push all of us to further acknowledge that the recognition of the rights of the disabled must always be followed by a sincere commitment on the part of all to bring about and sustain practical living conditions, structures that provide support and legal protection that can respond to the needs and dynamics of the growth of disabled persons and of those who are involved in their situation, beginning with their families.
No effort should be spared in promoting the integral good of these people. And that can be done in different ways as Dun Mikiel manifestly proves.