Mgr Lawrence Gatt, who was synonymous with Id-Dar tal-Providenza in Siġġiewi for more than two decades, turns 80 on Tuesday. But his appointment as director of the home, he tells Keith Micallef, came like a bolt from the blue.
It was May 13, 1987, when Id-Dar tal-Providenza was in mourning following the loss of its founder Dun Mikiel Azzopardi, who had died at the age of 77.
“Not in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined that I would be his successor,” Mgr Gatt said during an interview at St John’s Co-cathedral in Valletta where he regularly celebrates Mass.
The 79-year-old, who is now Chancellor of the Curia, served as director of the home – credited with helping to bring the disabled out of the shadows – for 21 years.
“It was Sunday, May 17, 1987 and I received a phone call from Archbishop Joseph Mercieca who wanted to see me. My hunch was that a seminarist had landed in trouble and he wanted to speak to me about it since I was the rector of the seminary. I was completely off the mark...”
Lacking any experience in the field of disability, and with big shoes to fill, the newly appointed director found the transition difficult in the first few years.
“It was like a bolt from the blue, but looking back I am grateful because this experience changed my outlook on life completely.”
To this day, many still look up to Mgr Mikiel Azzopardi in awe for his work to fight the marginalisation of the disabled in society.
“He always used to remark that, in order to set up a home like this, one had to be either mad or a saint,” Mgr Gatt remarks when asked for his opinion on his predecessor.
From the humble beginnings of a Royal Navy building, which opened its doors in 1968, over the years the home was expanded with the addition of Villa Papa Luciani and Villa Papa Giovanni. Meanwhile, the original facility, named after Archbishop Michael Gonzi who had donated the equivalent of €6,990, was demolished and replaced by a better one.
“Before taking up the role of director, I had only visited Id-Dar tal-Providenza a few times. This home has become part of our social heritage. You come face-to-face with people suffering, especially parents, and get a different perspective on life.”
Looking back at his long years of service as director, he recounts how he came across a number of benefactors whose generosity had no limits.
An old British lady from Sliema donated £80,000 in cash. I was dumbfounded and to date have never seen so much cash
“About three years into my job, an old British lady from Sliema donated £80,000 in cash. I was dumbfounded and to date have never seen so much cash,” he recounted.
“Another benefactor once visited me and presented me with €70,000 in cash.”
Countless others made small, regular donations, some in quite peculiar fashion.
“One donor from Birkirkara used to go through the ordeal of visiting the home once a month to donate Lm1 [€2.33] for every day of that month, rather than come round once or twice a year.”
Generosity was not just shown in the form of money, either. One donor handed over a large tract of land in Naxxar, from which institution eventually raised a large sum.
Asked about life inside the home, he said the decline in vocations meant it was no longer possible to run it with nuns only.
When he was studying at the seminary in the late 1950s, he recalls, members of the clergy numbered 700. Sixty years later that figure has gone down to 250, half of whom are over 60.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. “While the number of vocations has gone down, I believe that quality has gone up as nowadays we get more mature people, sometimes professionals like lawyers who decide to take Holy Orders. In my days, at 16 you might already have committed yourself.”
His two-decade long directorship of the home came to an end in 2008, soon after the start of Mgr Paul Cremona’s episcopate, when he was appointed Chancellor of the Curia, responsible to sign all official documents and at times give advice.
“I have become the elder at the Curia,” says Mgr Gatt, who is full-time in the post.
He was full of praise for his successor at Id-Dar tal-Providenza, Fr Martin Micallef. “Unlike me, who was parachuted into the job overnight, he had a lifetime ambition to manage this home. He even knows the sign language. Fr Martin is very much in his element and is doing a fine job.”
Prior to his experience at Id-Dar tal-Providenza, Mgr Gatt had spent a decade as the seminary rector. It all started by chance in 1976. He had asked to return to Malta after spending six years in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, in Indonesia, Spain and Zaire.
“Soon after landing in Rome on my way back to Malta, I received a call from Archbishop Gonzi who happened to be in the Italian capital as well. It turned out that I only spent 24 hours unemployed as the purpose of the meeting was to inform me that I had been appointed rector.”
The Archbishop resigned just two days later due to ill-health, but his successor Archbishop Joseph Mercieca confirmed his appointment.
“I used to tell myself, I will die as rector,” he jokingly remarked. It was not to be.
His 80th birthday, he said when asked, would be just another normal day.
“On Tuesday I will go to my office at the Curia, but I was informed that there will be a small reception in my honour.”
Any regrets in life?
“If I had to do it all over again I would still choose to become a priest.”
Biography
Born in Paola on February 7, 1937, Mgr Gatt was ordained priest in 1962. Subsequently, he entered the Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica in Rome which prepares priests for the diplomatic service, which he joined in 1971.
In 1976 he returned to Malta and was appointed rector of the seminary until 1987 when he succeeded Mgr Mikiel Azzopardi as director of Id-Dar tal-Providenza. In July 2008 he was appointed Chancellor of the Curia.
In 1994 he was made honorary cannon of the cathedral and member of the National Order of Merit. A year later he was nominated chaplain of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and in 2008 was promoted to Conventual Chaplain Grand Cross ad honorem.