Recently, I had the opportunity to meet an extremely informed Franciscan priest, Sebastian Camilleri. Originally, he was from Ħamrun and his name was Emanuel but as was the custom then, it was changed when he joined the Franciscan Order. I had the occasion to visit Fr Sebastian a number of times, both when he was recovering at Villa Messina and now at Porziuncola House at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq.

I must confess that I was impressed by his keen interest to learn and discover the roots of the Maltese Semitic Language and its development through the centuries. In his younger days, that is, during the fifties, he formed part of a group of priests and friars who supported the use of Semitic words for the Maltese liturgy against another group who was all out for the Romance Language. The latter group had the backing of Archbishop Gonzi. This was an interesting development within the Church, since before the war most priests, including those who were all out for Italian, like Alberto Pantalleresco, sought to speak in the vernacular, in “pure” Maltese, that is without making use of words borrowed from Italian or English. In part, it was due to the political changes brought by the war, and the enforced use of Maltese, that Maltese started to be Italianized and Anglicized. Those within the clergy who were pro-Italian stopped making an effort to use only Semitic words when speaking in Maltese. Instead, they relied more and more on words from Italian and English even if there was an equivalent word of Arabic origin.

Now Fr Sebastian is a retired priest after having spent 63 years doing pastoral work in Canada, Australia and America. In America, he obtained his Masters and PH.D from Los Angeles University, Beverley Hills.In Australia he also achieved the coveted award of OAM (Order of Australia)for special community services and the Justice Peace Diploma. And as expected, he has numerous publications to his name.

What received my admiration most were his patriotic feelings. Despite the fact that he had been abroad for over 63 years, he never relinquished his interest in Maltese.His enthusiasm for his country of birth and the Maltese language is in my opinion an example for many to follow.

During our lengthy discussions, he showed hislove for learning about MalteseSemitic words, which can be used instead of the words loaned from Italian and English. Perhaps, Camilleri’s enthusiasm should be an example to the Maltese Curia and stimulate it to use proper Maltese and not borrowed words from Italian that make no sense in our language. A case in point is the use of the expression “ArcisqofElett”, which translated literally means an elected Archbishop. In Maltese, the word “elett” has its proper semantic meaning and is related to an election,that is, somebody who got elected after a vote was taken. There was no election behind Scicluna’s appointment. In fact, bishops are not appointed as a result of election.  Nowadays bishops are not even appointed by acclamation, as was the case in the time of Saint Augustine. Instead, Catholic bishops are appointed by the Pope.

The appellative “elett” is a literal translation from the Italian expression, “vescovoeletto”. In the Church jargon, this has a different meaning from election. It means that a priest is waiting to be consecrated bishop. It this case, it means that bishopScicluna, who is already consecrated, is waiting to take possession of the diocese.

It is a pity that the Church is adopting an Italian jargonwhen there is already a Semitic word, which was used in the past for such ecclesiastical appointments. The use of the word “elett” only shows a lack of propriety of diction. The proper Maltese word, which was in use in the past for such appointments, is “maħtur” and definitely not “elett”. Thus the correct jargon should be “arcisqof maħtur”and not “elett”.