The year after the Great Siege, Malta lost its bishop. It was to remain bishop-less for six long years because the Vatican could not choose between the three names suggested by the Order. It was only in 1572, that the new Pope, Gregory XIII (the Pope of the Gregorian calendar) chose Fra Martino Royas, one of the three suggested by the Order, as the new bishop of Malta and successor to Mgr Cubelles.
But the new bishop soon clashed with the Order for he tried to become the Inquisitor apart from the bishop.
In 1574, the Holy See sent Mgr Pietro Dusina as an Apostolic Visitor to see how much of the new rules laid down by the Council of Trent (at which Mgr Royas had been present representing the Order) were being followed in Malta.
Mgr Dusina came from Brescia and had just been the Vicar General in Naples. His visit lasted from August 1574 to June 1575. In that short period he visited all the churches in Malta and interviewed all the priests of Malta.
He was welcomed by the Order but not at all by Mgr Royas.
He made three copies of his report - one is still preserved at the Vatican, one at the Curia in Valletta (but with missing pages) and one in the Inquisitor's archive (which has gone missing). There are many secondary copies of the report at the National Library.
This slim booklet focuses on Mgr Dusina's visit to the parish of Zurrieq. Incredible to believe, this visit to the 37 churches in the parish of Zurrieq lasted just one day - 9 February 1575.
At that time, the Zurrieq parish included seven villages - Zurrieq, Bubaqra, Hal Far, Hal Lew, Hal Manin, Hal Millieri and Qrendi. Zurrieq had 11 churches, Bubaqra 8, Qrendi 7 etc. There was even a church on Filfla.
The template of the visit was the same everywhere - the bishop visited the church, examined the church building, vestments, etc; checked to see that the priests could say Mass in the new Tridentine form, inquired on the finances backing the church, each altar etc, and generally gave orders to ensure each church is spruced up and decorous.
The text is important to researchers of history because of the many incidental details it includes, such as the number of households in each village, many times glimmers of what the people spoke about. It is an absolutely essential tool for notaries and those who study property holdings even in those days.
The book contains a number of photos of the churches mentioned even when some of these churches have become houses.
What I found extremely riveting in this book is the foreword by Ignatius Farrugia about the chequered life of the author. His hobby is to walk all the way from Kirkop where he lives to Mellieha and back in nine hours. He has also walked round the Malta coastline in an adventure that lasted nine days.
The author is also the very first mayor in Malta since he was unopposed when he contested the first election in 1993.
He has taught all over the world: he taught the classics in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) landing in the dark and with the engines cut off so as to evade rockets launched by the guerillas.
On the local scene, he found, translated and commented on the long poem Tristia ex Melitogaudo, written in Gozo in 1140 and claimed by the author to prove that there were still Christians in Malta (actually in Gozo) under the Muslims.
Horatio Caesar Roger Vella
Il-Vizta Pastorali ta' Mons Dusina fil-Parrocca taz-Zurrieq
Self-published
2013
96 pp