On Friday 16 March, Malta lost one of its greatest philosophers ever: Prof. Peter Serracino Inglott, better known as Fr Peter.
Personally, I had the good fortune of being taught by him when I read for my first philosophy degree. Although I did not know him well, from what remember from my student days at university, as well as from what I have read so far on the man, I would attempt to describe him as “an indefatigable servant of Beauty”.
I am curious to discover what Fr Peter did mean by beauty? In one of the interviews he gave, this great philosopher described beauty with the following words: “Things are beautiful when they are as God intended them to be. In fact, the Hebrew word TOB, which means ‘beauty’, is the root of the Maltese word ‘tajjeb’, meaning ‘good’. In creation when God ‘saw that it was good’ one could also read this as ‘and God saw that it was beautiful’”. Thus, for Fr Peter there was a perfect correlation between the good and the beautiful. The one presupposed the other and vice versa.
Fr Peter’s conceptual stance completely resonates with what Blessed Pope John Paul II had to say about beauty, particularly in his letter to artists in 1999. To those who are fervently devoted to the quest for new ‘epiphanies’ of beauty, as through their creative artistic work they can present these as gifts to the world, the Polish Pope said: “The theme of beauty is decisive for a discourse on art. It was already present when I stressed God’s delighted gaze upon creation. In perceiving that all he had created was good, God saw that it was beautiful as well. The link between good and beautiful stirs fruitful reflection. In a certain sense, beauty is the visible form of the good, just as the good is the metaphysical condition of beauty. This was well understood by the Greeks who, by fusing the two concepts, coined a term which embraces both: ‘kalokagathía’, or beauty-goodness.
On this point Plato writes: ‘The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful’” (§ 3).
This intimate link between beauty-goodness was always present in Fr Peter’s academic life. Back in my university days, I used to be impressed by the way he taught us. While presenting and explaining the main ideas of the author being discussed, he would engage in a detailed analysis of the philosopher’s ideas while coming up with new perspectives on the topic the author had tackled differently. How can I ever forget the series of lectures he delivered to us, philosophy students, on Aquinas’ five proofs on God’s existence? At some point Fr Peter gave us his own translation of Aquinas’ text. For me that was absolutely a fascinating exercise by a real philosopher. As I read, hear and reminisce more and more about Fr Peter, I am gradually coming to the conclusion that this innovative priest was a passionate follower of Beauty, God, the Eternal Truth. I am saying this not simply because of his intellectual achievements but even more for his priestly love for the needy.
Love for the Beautiful One, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14, 6), impelled Fr Peter to seek his truthful and saving face not only in the hundreds of books he used to read and write but also in the distressed faces who approached him for help. Fr Joe Borg, a close friend of Fr Peter, wrote: “Fr Peter’s care for people in need and for those who were vulnerable was outstanding. We used to meet in a couple of rooms in Arċipiergu. The place was dismal but the atmosphere and enthusiasm made up for it. The feeling that these people should be helped to help themselves was supreme.”
This great priest, philosopher, teacher, political adviser, and art and classical music lover, manifested Aquinas’ three distinguishing characteristics of beauty, namely wholeness, proportion, and claritas (brilliance). What an indefatigable servant of Beauty!
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San GWann