Lorenzo Zammit HaberLorenzo Zammit Haber

One of the less renowned Gozitan patriots was undoubtedly Chev. Lorenzo Zammit Haber of Xewkija. He was born on November 10, 1875, in Xewkija, the son of Francesco and Maria née Haber.

He studied under the Jesuits at the Gozo Seminary in Victoria. On February 15, 1908, he married Carmela née Scicluna. They had five children; two boys and three girls.

By modern standards, Zammit Haber would be easily described as a first-class antiquarian; he collected all that had to do with Melitensia and Gaulitana. He held the history of his native country so close to his heart that by just being a collector of items related to the history and archaeology of the Maltese archipelago, he would have also made a name for himself.

But he was more than a mere collector; Zammit Haber was chosen by the British Governor in Malta to take Major Hugh Braun’s place as an esteemed member of the Ancient Monuments Committee; it was in this capacity that he designed the various mejjilli that are to be found sculpted out of stone in the Mġarr ix-Xini Valley in the limits of his native Xewkija.

Zammit Haber designed the coat of arms of all the villages of Gozo

During his lifetime he was also considered an authority on the history of the Maltese islands on which, in fact, he had an encyclopaedic mind. When Prof. Luigi Ugolini was about to write his Malta: Origini della Civiltà Mediterranea, he consulted Zammit Haber. So did British Governor in Malta Sir Harry Luke – an admirer of Maltese history – when he wrote his Malta: An Account and an Appreciation. Zammit Haber was mentioned by Sir Harry in his book. He also helped Prof. Aldo Farini in his publication Fiabe – Tradizioni – Leggende Maltese.

Zammit Haber had ties with the Sovereign Hospitaller Military Order of St John known due to his contribution in the compiling of an important publication about the Order. Count Carlo Augusto Bertini Frassoni, the author of Il Sovrano Militare Ordine di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme detto di Malta, referred to the help he received from Zammit Haber and acknowledged him in this publication. He was later on invested as a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta by the then Grand Master and Prince Fra Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein on January 13, 1927.

Zammit Haber, as he was henceforth known, was a collector of portraits and an accomplished painter himself. He is the author of a collection of portraits of the 28 Grand Masters who reigned in our islands between 1530 and 1798; he also designed the coat of arms of all the villages of Gozo. These items are still kept in the Zammit Haber residence in Xewkija’s main square.

In 1935, he was commissioned to design the crests of various surnames for Blasinato Pasinati’s encyclopaedia of surnames at the Bibliotheca Nazionale of Rome. The original copies designed by Zammit Haber are now to be found at 3, Guido Pitoni, Walnut Street, Rochester, New York, the US.

The silver flower stands around the titular statue of St John the Baptist revered in the Xewkija parish church were designed by him, together with the reliquary of the saint and two altar-frontals (ventaltari) and the baldachin. On December 18, 1936, he was awarded a diploma of appreciation by the University of Venice for these works.

One of the lost architectural treasures of Gozo was undoubtedly the Gourgion Tower of Xewkija. The tower has been described as one of the architectural gems of the Maltese islands. In the historical publication about this tower, which has been co-authored by Zammit Haber’s son Frans, the latter says that many people had raised their voices in protest against the decision to demolish the tower to make space for an airfield.

Foremost among the protesters was Zammit Haber. In fact, he was so interested in the heritage of his native Gozo that when his pleadings came to naught, he took great pains to collect all the tower’s carved inscriptions, pieces of sculpture and coat of arms; they were later preserved in the Museum of Archaeology in the Citadel, Victoria.

Zammit Haber was also involved in the project of the enlargement of the old parish church of Xewkija. When the new naves were added to the main body of the church, he was chosen to supervise the work; the project began on May 21, 1936, and ended on May 25, 1938; the old parish church was later demolished so that the new rotunda would take its place.

Zammit Haber was one of the founding fathers of the Prekursur Band of Xewkija and twice served as its president – in 1929 as the first president and again from November 1932 to November 1933.

Zammit Haber died on June 1, 1961, and was buried in the family grave in the Xewkija cemetery. Xewkija local council named one of the streets of the village after him.

The fact that he was left out of the two-volume Dictionary of Maltese Biographies is in itself a sign that Zammit Haber needs to be known better among the list of Gozitan lovers of history and Gozitan patriots.

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