Cesare Catania died rather suddenly last January without seeing his lifetime work, following his doctoral thesis, on the relations between the Vatican and Britain with special reference to the 1930s Malta, Strickland, Britain and the Vatican 1929 - 1932 appear in print.

His work has now been published by Agius & Agius and a posthumous launch, which did Cesare proud, was recently held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre during the Book Week.

Given the circumstances, and the fact that most of the speakers were friends of the author, most of the speeches turned out to be reminiscences of Cesare and his bouncy character.

Peter Serracino Inglott said the evening was rather like Hamlet without the Prince. Cesare had looked forward to seeing the book in print for around 40 years and had almost lost hope of it ever happening.

Prof. Serracino Inglott, who had become a very good friend of Cesare when the two were residing in Milan in the 1980s, dwelt on the boy from Ħamrun, who lived just behind the church and who was divided between his family’s strong Catholic background and his Socialist ideals. This he also showed when he was Mario Philip Azzopardi’s assistant during the filming of Frans Sammut’s Il-Gaġġa (in which he also acted a small part) but even more so in his novel It-Tarf which speaks of growing up in Ħamrun in the 1960s.

While in Italy, he explored his family’s roots in Bologna and wrote many poems and the book containing them is awaiting publication in its Maltese translation.

Mr Agius, the book’s publisher, said the book had been at another publisher for years without being printed. When his company took it over, it delayed for some more time because it wanted to make sure that the book contained nothing libelous. In fact, all that Cesare said, turned out to be well-documented.

Andre Camilleri spoke mainly of the friendship between the two, also cemented when Cesare and Dr Camilleri were studying in Milan.

Dominic Fenech was Cesare’s tutor while at university and Cesare’s thesis was inspired by Prof. Fenech’s masterly work on the relations between the Vatican and the British government with special reference to Malta.

This was a very complex relationship between two states which both wanted their relationship to flourish but who found that the particular political situation in Malta was putting them at loggerheads. In particular, the books highlights how Gerald Strickland was by no means beloved by the British, who did not like his personal approach, even though he boasted he was the British modernising influence in backward and clergy-ridden Malta.

Simon Mercieca spoke also of the book’s documentation in view of his earlier writings about Maltese politics in the late 19th century. In particular, Archbishop Mauro Caruana began well and well-meaning enough but he was soon losing control over the clergy who in places like Cospicua and Birkirkara even came out in protest against their own bishop.

Nor does Archbishop Michael Gonzi emerge with flying colours from this book: on the contrary he was described by his contemporaries as a vain person, ambitious and seeking his family’s betterment.

Rounding up the discussion, after a short commemoration of Cesare by Professor Marie Alexander, Prof. Serracino Inglott said one big merit of the book was its revelation of what the infamous Mgr Robinson had written.

Mgr Robinson had come to Malta in those tumultuous years as an Apostolic Visitor. Previous to this book’s appearance, there was a sort of mystery because while his contemporaries said that in his private talks with them he was highly critical of the Church in Malta, his official report defended the Church from claims its priests were lazy.

It was Cesare who solved the riddle: for he found, in the Vatican archives, a second report by Mgr Robinson, addressed internally to the Church. In this report, which is published as an appendix to the book, he is even more scathing about the level of the Maltese clergy at that time.