The 450th anniversary of the Great Siege of Malta will see a different form of celebration take place. The celebrations will focus on a commemoration of the event, and a memorial ceremony for all those who lost their lives, both Catholic and Muslim.
For the first time, the Muslim community has been invited to participate in the Great Siege anniversary, and the Imam will in fact play a prominent role along with the Archbishop in the Birgu sections of the commemorations that will take place today.
In 1565, the Ottoman Empire invaded Malta, in an attempt to seize the island and wipe out the Knights of St John once and for all. Today, things seem to be taking a different turn, as both Muslim and Christian will stand side by side to remember the battle, pay tribute to those who lost their lives and look to the future together.
The 450th anniversary of the Great Siege of Malta is, of course, a symbolic milestone, President of the Maltese Association of the Order of Malta Daniel de Petri Testaferrata said. “Like so many other significant moments in life, such as celebrating a birthday or a jubilee, this should be a joyous moment. Undoubtedly, the Great Siege was a turning point, in much the same way as the Santa Maria Convoy, or the armistice at the end of the Second World War, meant a great deal to those involved at the time. Our joy, however, should be focused on the things that unite us.”
“Almost any conflict ends with a winner and a loser, and this was certainly no different, but the re-uniting of old opponents may well lead to two winners instead,” heexplained. “This is what we are aiming to achieve: the use of a variety of cultures to foster that now clichéd, but still relevant, phrase of ‘unity in diversity’.”
Marchesino de Petri Testaferrata said that the Order has, for many years now, been instrumental in bringing different creeds and cultures together on an international scale.
“We are a Hospitaller order, and always have been. It is one of the two pillars of our existence, and we make every effort to practise this, regardless of race or religion. Several tangible examples of our work are clearly visible. The maternity hospital in Bethlehem – offering the only possible place for Palestinian women to give birth under good medical conditions – is perhaps one of the more shining examples of this”.
He said that a brief look at the history of the Holy Family Hospital provides a glimpse of the very real possibilities that exist when different nations and different creeds work together.
“Originally bought and built by the Daughters of Charity, a true multitude of nations cooperate to support this beacon of hope in the Palestinian territories: it is run by the Order of Malta, was given tax benefits by the Turkish government, is given financial assistance by the government of France, is heavily supported by foundations in the United States and in Belgium, and is recognised as a centre of excellence by the British Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
“Further examples of our work with different nations can be seen: in Lebanon the Order works with every religious community. Currently, the Order has a network of 28 different operations in the country, reaching as many Christians as Muslims, and run in collaboration with religious congregations or foundations of different faiths. The Order of Malta has signed official agreements with the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council of Lebanon and cooperates with the highest Druze authority. We have a special relationship with the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon, Dar Al Fatwa providing medical assistance at their clinic in Beirut”.
“I was particularly moved when Imam El Sadi, Fra' John Critien, Fr John Avellino and I, together with representatives of the organising committee of this commemorative event, met within the walls of the Church dedicated to St Lawrence in Birgu. Planning to lay wreaths on the very symbol of Victory, in the synonymous square of the city which also shares the same name could have been a tricky prospect.”
He said there was a palpable sense of collaboration, and they immediately agreed that this would take the form of a commemoration of those souls which were sacrificed during the Great Siege. “Immediate agreement on the method by which Islamic and Catholic friends should process together from Couvre Porte to the Church was also an important moment for us all.”
Since the time of the Great Siege, the Order’s journey has completed the proverbial full circle, he said. “A band of brothers visited the Holy Land over nine hundred years ago. They were armed with little else but good will and love for their neighbour, and made it their mission to care for the sick and the poor. The distraction provided by the Order’s involvement in the international conflict during the Crusades, the sieges of Rhodes and Malta, and so much else in between resulted in us becoming far more renowned as a military force. Nothing could be further from the truth nowadays. However, our Hospitaller mission has remained constant throughout the centuries: today, the Sovereign Order of Malta is thriving and working in five continents with its social and humanitarian projects benefiting millions of people”.
Struggle for true freedom is still pertinent and necessary
Mgr Charles J. Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta
Yesterday evening in Valletta, I had the opportunity to stand in front of Antonio Sciortino’s marvellous monument commemorating the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege.
The central figure of this monument embodies the courage and determination of the local people who, 450 years ago, defended themselves against the enemy who had decided to make them slaves. The shield held by a man of great strength and with a determined look, twins the emblem of the Order of the Knights of St John with the Maltese emblem. The two figures on both sides are allegorical: the one on the left symbolises the Catholic Faith, and the figure on the right symbolises that of Minerva or Athena, the personification of human wisdom and reason. In this way, Antonio Sciortino represents the idea that the fierce struggle that took place on Mount Xiberras and in the surroundings of Grand Harbour, Vittoriosa and Marsamxett Harbour, was a struggle fought on this small island in the middle of the Mediterranean to save faith and reason, the free worship of the one true God, and Western civilisation. The allegorical figures are symbols of freedom, the freedom to adore God and the freedom of thought. Yes, the Great Siege battle of 1565 was a struggle against enslavement as obscurantism – it was against the enemies of true freedom.
This struggle today is still pertinent and necessary. How wise are the words of Emperor Manuel II Paleologue in Ankara in 1391. In his dialogue with the Muslim theologian from Persia, he said, “God is not pleased by blood – and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats. To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.” Pope Benedict XVI, in his speech at Regensburg University on 12th September 2006, added his own comments to the words of Emperor Manuel, saying, “At this point, as far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice of religion is concerned, we are faced with an unavoidable dilemma. Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God’s nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true? I believe that here we can see the profound harmony between what is Greek in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God.”
The two figures which Antonio Sciortino positioned on either side of this monument express the radical need of an encounter between the biblical faith and the Greek sense of inquiry. The embrace sculptured in bronze between faith and reason expresses the fundamental idea that faith short of reason and reason bereft of faith lead to extremes of intransigence and obscurantism, lead to a tragic deficit of the human experience.
How apt the words of Pope Benedict XVI were when he said, “While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them. We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way. [...] Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world’s profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.”
Standing before the Great Siege monument symbolising the courage of those who fought fiercely in this siege, we recall the words of Pope Francis in Sarajevo on 6th June.
“Peace is God’s dream, his plan for humanity, for history, for all creation. And it is a plan which always meets opposition from men and from the evil one. Even in our time, the desire for peace and the commitment to build peace collide against the reality of many armed conflicts presently affecting our world. They are a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we sense an atmosphere of war.
“Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately, mainly those who want conflict between different cultures and societies, and those who speculate on wars for the purpose of selling arms. But war means children, women and the elderly in refugee camps; it means forced displacement of peoples; it means destroyed houses, streets and factories; it means, above all, countless shattered lives. You know this well, having experienced it here: how much suffering, how much destruction, how much pain! Today, dear brothers and sisters, the cry of God’s people goes up once again from this city, the cry of all men and women of good will: war never again!”
In 1934, in his poem “Lil Malta: Ta’ Llum u ta’ Għada” (“To Malta, of Today and of Tomorrow”), National Poet Dun Karm lamented with very strong words: “You were the flower of the world and you have become a rubbish dump [...] listen to what I’m telling you: do not come to this Monument with praises on your lips and laurel wreaths in your hands; let me tell you: your praises have become lies, and the Monument itself has become a lie”. Is it indeed true that this Monument has become a lie? Is it indeed true that the praises uttered here every year have become lies?
“Malta, Malta, do not cut the roots of your hallowed and sweet tree!
“Take refuge in its shade, nourish yourself of its fruits,
“Enjoy its goodness with all men in peace.
“And the Lord will protect you and will be with you:
“Here and everywhere, now and forever. Amen.”
Cooperating to create a better dignified life for all
Imam Mohammed El Sadi
The Great Siege on Malta, in my opinion, was not a war between Islam and Christianity but a war between certain Muslims and certain Christians who both believed at the time that they had their own valid justifications for such a tragic confrontation.
Neither true Islam nor true Christianity calls for aggression, bloodshed and destruction. Rather they call for peace, love and prosperity.
Today we cannot and we should not divide the world into religious camps fighting each other, because we all live with different faiths together.
We have no alternative but to live together in peace, mutual respect and harmony as one family because we are all the offspring of Adam and Eve. We should live as brothers and sisters, and cooperate to create a better dignified life for all.
Islam and Christianity are not enemies because both originally are Heavenly messages inspired by the same God. Our common enemies are ignorance, fanaticism, racism and extremism. Our common enemies are injustice, poverty and immorality.
Today, we should focus our efforts to lead better lives. We have many common religious and human values which help us live in harmony – and we all need to focus and promote what unites us, and not what divides us.
We need more dialogue to get to know each other better and to remove prejudices and misconceptions in order to create more mutual understanding and respect.
We need to build bridges of trust between the followers of different faiths to secure a prosperous future for the coming generation. To be honest and just with ourselves and our children, we cannot ignore our past tragic confrontations, we should not ignore and forget the long historical peaceful coexistence we, Muslims and Christians, enjoyed together in different countries at different times in order to avoid the past tragedies and have hope for a better future. Today we should recall and restore such good times.
Photographs of tapestries: Daniel Cilia