May 4, 1655, marked the date of the demise of Gian Francesco Abela, one of the greatest personalities to leave their mark on Maltese historiography and the first native Maltese-born to write the history of our islands.

Illustration from G.F. Abela’s book depicting the Abatija tad-Dejr catacombs.

In 1955, the third centenary anniversary of Abela’s death was fittingly commemorated by the Malta Historical Society – founded in 1950 and still going strong – through a series of activities, among which was a solemn commemoration held at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta, where three papers about Abela and his work were read out. These papers, together with six other studies, were published by the Department of Information in 1961 in collaboration with the said Society. Two of these nine studies had previously been published in the October-December 1955 issue of Scientia.

Unfortunately, the year 1982, the fourth centenary of Abela’s birth, was allowed to flit by without the slightest commemoration being attempted. To my knowledge, there were no publications, no soirees, nor a commemorative stamp to mark the event. The only reference to the event was made by Professor Anthony Bonanno who, during the History Week organised by The Malta Historical Society in November 1983, delivered an important and erudite lecture about Abela’s legacy to the Jesuit College. The annotated lecture was then published by the said Society in Proceedings of History Week 1983, pp. 27-37.

The site of St Paul’s shipwreck in St Paul’s Bay. Illustration from G.F. Abela’s book.

Abela was born in Valletta of noble parentage, his parents being Marco Abela and Bernardina Xara. His only sister, Henrietta, was quite older than him and, in fact, she married the Bolognese gentleman, Giacomo de Robertis, in 1583. De Robertis was serving with the Order of St John as a Commandant of Artillery. He probably received his first formal education at the Jesuit College, which had only recently been instituted in Valletta in 1593 after the arrival of that Order in 1592, and was admitted as an aspirant to the service of the Order of St John, being attached to the Priory of Portugal within the Langue of Castile. He pursued his higher studies in Bologna where he obtained doctorates in both civil and canon law in 1607. He then undertook a cultural tour of Italy but was struck down by a serious illness at Pavia. However, he recovered and returned to Malta.

He received Holy Orders in 1610 and, since he was one of the Order of St John’s Conventual Chaplains, he performed his statutory obligations by carrying out in person his four caravans (tours of duty) on the Order’s galleys. His intelligence, diligence and studious background enabled him to be selected and sent by the Order as secretary of various embassies in France, Spain and the Holy See.

Abela also practised as a lawyer in the Civil Courts of Justice and he was subsequently nominated Advocate for the Poor. Other promotions followed and he became Treasury Counsel (Avvocato del Comun Tesoro). Recognition of his worth can be seen in his nomination of honorary chaplain to Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, Latin secretary to various grand masters, secretary in charge of correspondence with the Order’s receivers in Spain, chaplain to the Holy Infirmary and lieutenant to Grand Prior Salvatore Imbroll (another distinguished Maltese prelate) during the latter’s absence from Malta in 1626.

The first-known Maltese collector of antiquities whose collection was later to form the nucleus on which the National Museum of Archaeology was to develop

On October 11, 1626, the Order’s Council unanimously appointed him vice-chancellor and, in 1631, he was in charge of the preparations for the convening of the Chapter-General of the Order, which he attended in his capacity of vice-chancellor. Abela’s prominent position in the Order’s hierarchy is important because the Knights actually admitted far too few men of Maltese origin within their ranks. In 1640, Grand Master Jean Paul Lascaris and the Order’s Council enacted the formation and institution of Malta’s first Notarial Archives. Previously, notarial deeds and documentation had remained in the custody of the notaries themselves, with subsequent losses and dispersals after their deaths since government had no control over them. The promoter of this project was Gian Francesco Abela who, therefore, must be given due credit for being the creator of such an important repository.

Ancient funerary items illustrated in G.F. Abela’s book.

Abela was also auditor to Grand Master Antoine de Paule and, in this role, he tendered advice on matters of State and administration. He was one of the triumvirate that conducted the election of Grand Master Lascaris in 1636 and, later on, became the Order’s censor of printed works.

He died at the age of 73 and was buried, in accordance with his wish, in the Chapel of Our Lady of Philermos (now known as the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament) of St John’s Conventual Church, where a marble slab, commissioned by his grand-nephew, marks his tomb.

To escape the hurly-burly noisiness of life in the city, Abela built a country house, which he called Villa di San Giacomo (later known as Villa Abela) at a place known as Il-Kortin at Marsa, overlooking the inner Grand Harbour. Here he also had a library and a museum and it was in this calm and serene atmosphere – the topography of the area is completely different to that prevailing nowadays – that Abela wrote his well-known Della Descrittione di Malta, Isola nel mare Siciliano con le sue antichità ed altre notizie.

The frontispiece of G.F. Abela’s book Della Descrittione di Malta.

This 573-page-long work (plus a 12-page index), which is divided into four parts, was published as a single volume and was printed locally at the grand master’s newly-established printing office by the printer Paolo Bonacota in 1647. (A very welcome limited edition facsimile was published by Midsea Books in 1984.)

This book was enthusiastically received and quickly became a recognised work of reference on Malta. Apart from its historical element, the book also lays bare Abela’s interest in the local language and the topography of Malta, together with information about Maltese natural history and folklore. For a long time, it was held that Abela’s work was complete and final and was not to be altered. However, diligent research has amply shown that Abela’s work contains a number of inaccuracies, errors and misjudgements. Yet, notwithstanding such shortcomings, the Descrittione di Malta still has its merits and still continues to be – over 370 years after it was written – a mine of information for the student of Maltese history.

The first page of the original 1637 document in which G. F. Abela made his bequest to the Jesuits. COURTESY: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MALTA

Moreover, Abela was also a collector of, and commentator on, ancient objects, and a pioneer in the study of Maltese antiquities. He was interested in field exploration, made some very valid observations and displayed an awareness of potential archaeological connotations in some Maltese place-names. He made mistakes as well, such as the attribution of Maltese prehistoric temples to a race of giants which he thought had once inhabited the islands. Actually, he was an antiquarian in the positive sense of the word.

Abela collected objects which he deemed ancient and steadily built up a small museum in his country retreat. He is certainly the first-known Maltese collector of antiquities whose collection was later to form the nucleus on which the National Museum of Archaeology was to develop. This museum and house were bequeathed to the Jesuit Fathers by a deed drawn up in 1637. On Abela’s demise, the Jesuits took up the perpetual administration of the bequest, but, by the middle of the 18th century, the villa was left in the care of a secular priest.

After suffering from a number of burglaries, Abela’s property fell into the hands of the Order of St John when the Jesuits were expelled from Malta in 1768. Abela’s collection – or rather, what remained of it – later formed part of the Public Library complex and certainly merits the description “cornerstone of the Malta Museum” given to it.

The final page of the bequest by G.F. Abela to the Jesuits in 1637. Courtesy: National Library of Malta

Gian Francesco Abela was a man of whom any country, however large, would have been justly proud of. We are indeed fortunate that such a man was a worthy son of our beloved island of Malta.

Historian Dr Joseph F. Grima is a former Assistant Director of Education and casual lecturer in History whose publications include Żmien il-Kavallieri f’Malta 1530-1798 and The Fleet of the Knights of Malta – Its Organisation during the Eighteenth Century.