The Maltese Franciscan Province of the Friars Minor, dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle, is 100 years old. On Sunday 12 April 1914, which was Easter, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, Pacifico Monza ofm, declared the Maltese Franciscan Custody of Saint John the Baptist an independent Province of the Order, with the title Saint Paul the Apostle.
The Maltese Franciscans had already gained a certain degree of autonomy from their Sicilian mother Province of Val di Noto in 1838, when they had become a Custody. It had been a long and arduous journey. Ever since the founding of the first Franciscan Observant friary in Rabat, dedicated to Santa Maria di Gesù, and known by the local population as Ta’ Ġieżu, a Maltese corruption of the Sicilian dialect Di Giesu, the Maltese Franciscans of the Observant family had formed part and parcel of the Province of Val di Noto, covering much of southern Sicily. This Province had a long and ancient tradition of faithfulness to the renewal of Franciscan life, through the Observant movement that spread like wildfire in Italy during the 15th century. One of the disciples of Saint Bernardine of Siena, who led the Observant movement, was Bishop Matteo Giumarra di Agrigento. It was he who spread the Observant reform in Sicily, from where it found its way to Malta towards the end of the 15th century.
With the building of Valletta, Grand Master Pietro del Monte donated land to the Franciscan Observants in order to build their second church and friary in the new city. The church was also dedicated to Santa Maria di Gesù, and is a renaissance and baroque architectural gem, created by the famous Maltese engineer Girolamo Cassar, architect of Saint John’s Conventual Church in Valletta.
These two friaries remained the centres of the pastoral activity of the Maltese Franciscan Observants for three centuries. In the meantime, however, the undue interference of the Reign of Two Sicilies in the affairs of Maltese religious, plus the ambivalent attitude of Grand Master Emanuel Pinto de Fonseca during the 18th century, prompted the Maltese Franciscan Observants to take the initiative to break away from Sicily and appeal directly for guidance to the Order’s General Curia in Rome. Unfortunately this attempt ended in tragedy for two poor Maltese Franciscans who were courageous enough to embark upon such an initiative, Accursio Stuppia and Giovanni Nicola Falzon. They ended up exiled from the islands, by order of the same Grand Master who had hypocritically encouraged their endeavour! Their effort, however, was not in vain. In 1790 the Maltese Franciscan entity was declared an independent Custody, but only for a short period of time. The Tribunal of the Regia Monarchia of the Kingdom of Naples was still strongly opposed to any break away attempts by Maltese religious.
The advent of British rule in Malta during the 19th century changed the course of history for Maltese religious. The British were keen on separating the religious from their mother provinces in southern Italy and making them directly dependent upon Rome. Thus on 26 July 1838 the Maltese Franciscan Observants became a Custody, choosing the title of Saint John the Baptist.
The turn of events in the Franciscan Order at the end of the 19th century was also a boost for Franciscan religious life in Malta. The unification of the Order of Friars Minor in 1897 and the providential figure of a Maltese Franciscan, Anton Maria Cesal, were key factors in bringing about the renewal of the Maltese Franciscan Custody. Cesal founded another two churches and friaries, the Madonna del Sacro Cuor in Sliema and Saint Anthony in Gozo. Time was now ripe for a rebirth. The Franciscan Order could now found a new entity, the Maltese Province of the Friars Minor, dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle. It was exactly 100 years ago.
The Minister General of the Order at the time was Pacifico Monza ofm (1911-1915). In 1914 he came over to Malta for a general visitation. On 7 April 1914 the General Definitorium issued the Decree of the foundation of the Maltese Franciscan Province, with the title of Saint Paul the Apostle. The original Decree, however, was published at the Ta’ Ġieżu friary in Valletta on Easter Sunday, 12April 1914.
The new Minister Provincial, Anton Maria Cesal, convoked the Definitorium on 1 July 1914. By the time he had to convoke the second meeting on 16 December, Anton Maria Cesal had died on 14 December 1914, after only 8 months in office. He can be rightly considered to be the father of the Province.
Since then the Maltese OFM Province has continued to flourish, with new churches and friaries in Ħamrun (Saint Francis Stigmatised), Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq (Porziuncola Retreat House and Saint Mary of the Angels), and other permanent or temporary presences in Malta and abroad (London, Toronto, Adelaide, Honduras, Libya, Ħal Far, Birkirkara, Mellieħa, Marsaskala).
Times have never been easy for the Franciscan OFM Province of Malta. This commemoration is not only a joyful celebration of past achievements, but should also be a courageous occasion to face up to the challenge of giving a Franciscan witness in a secularised and postmodern society.
Artiklu bil-Malti – Articolo in Italiano
Maltese Franciscan Province of the Friars Minor is 100 years old