He was the only son of former prime minister Nerik (Enrico) Mizzi, but Mgr Fortunato Mizzi’s legacy extended well beyond the political family he was born into.
The priest, who died of natural causes last Friday, aged 90, was a social activist in his own right.
After joining the priesthood in 1952, he went on to form the Social Action Movement three years later, which was engaged in social work.
Mgr Mizzi became the first director of Caritas, a Church organisation, when it was set up in Malta in 1968 and held the post for nine years.
Mgr Mizzi was named after his grandfather Fortunato, a founder of the Nationalist Party. The British colonial power exiled his father illegally to Uganda during World War II, accusing him of being an Italian sympathiser.
Nerik Mizzi was leader of the PN and after returning to Malta in 1945 from Uganda went on to become prime minister in September 1950. However, he died in office three months later.
But despite his family’s strong political ties, Mgr Mizzi was not one to interfere in party politics, according to former European Commissioner Tonio Borg.
READ: Bice - the woman behind Nerik Mizzi
Having first met the “soft-spoken” priest when he was an altar boy at the Jesuits’ church in Valletta, Dr Borg went on to lecture later in life in political and social courses organised by Mgr Mizzi.
“Despite being born in a family with a deep political legacy, he never interfered in partisan politics but was possibly the first to offer courses and lectures on political theory,” Dr Borg said.
Mgr Mizzi was responsible for the formation of a generation of Christian politicians through his social courses, he added. The priest was also close to workers and helped set up trade unions and was involved in the cooperative movement.
Describing Mgr Mizzi as a person who gave of himself, Dr Borg recalled that the priest donated his grandfather’s house in Old Mint Street, Valletta, to the movement he established.
His other house, in St John Street in the capital, which had belonged to his father, was given to a foundation set up seven years ago to administer the documents that belonged to Fortunato Mizzi and Nerik Mizzi.
Dr Borg was a founding member of the Fortunato and Enrico Mizzi Foundation, headed by former MP Richard Muscat.
“Mgr Fortunato was not a political animal but was always very protective of his father’s memory,” Dr Borg said.
Mgr Mizzi lived his whole life in his father’s house and only moved out eight years ago to take up residence at the home for priests in Birkirkara.
He was born in Valletta in 1927 to Nerik Mizzi and pianist Bice Vassallo, who was the daughter of the famous composer Paolino Vassallo. The young priest was educated at the seminary and graduated from the Royal University of Malta.
The PN saluted Mgr Mizzi’s memory, saying there were plans by the Fortunato and Enrico Mizzi Foundation to transform the residence in St John’s Street into the first political history museum in Malta.