Antonio Micallef

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Frà Dominic Antonio Xaver Vicentino Micallef (born October 20, 1725 in Valletta , Malta; † May 24, 1809 ibid) was conventual chaplain and commander of the Order of Malta and taught at the University of Malta .

Religious priest

After studying theology, Antonio Micallef was accepted into the Order of Malta as a chaplain in 1753. As a commoner and a native of Malta, he could only join this order as a priest. Since Malta did not belong to any tongue (territorial division) of the order, he was assigned to the Italian tongue and served from then on as a convent chaplain . In addition, he was almsman of the Sacra Infermeria , the large religious hospital and academic teaching hospital in the capital Valletta. In addition to the military fight against the Islamic countries, the service in the hospital was the main task of the (knight) brothers, who had the addition of Frà (brother) in front of their name.

After Micallef had received approval from the Pope to celebrate Mass on the ships of the Order Navy, he accompanied the warships during their often long missions. On land he would have lived in Valletta, in the house of the religious, in the Casa Bellot. This house, rebuilt in the 18th century, is at the intersection of Merchant and Old Theater Street. In view of his services, Micallef received a commendation in Italy for his usufruct. He thus advanced to a commander; his standard of living and his position within the order should have improved.

professor

The Order Grand Master Pinto founded the Publica Universita di Studi Generali in Valletta in 1769 , which began teaching in 1771. There Micallef mainly taught civil law from 1771 until his death. Only during the French occupation (1798-1800) did the teaching stop. During the reign of Grand Master Rohan, the national law of Malta, the Code Rohan, was occasionally re-codified and published in 1784 under the official name Del Thirdo Municipale di Malta ... 1784. Micallef got involved in the sometimes turbulent legislative process, published a statement and finally worked on the editorial team.

To this day he is known for his series of lectures on the law of the Order of Malta. These lectures were printed in Malta in the then official language of the island and the Order, Italian. They are now also available in English translation. The permission to print was given with the addition that Micallef's statements should not be a prejudice for court decisions. This textbook with its status from 1791/92 is still of current importance today. It is based on the revised statutes of the order, the Codice del Sacro Militare Ordine Gerosolimitano (1782), also called Code Rohan , and it is still valid today, albeit on a subsidiary basis, in the Order of Malta.

Frà Antonio Micallef passed away peacefully in Malta at the age of 84, almost ten years after his order was expelled from the island and the religious state of Malta ceased to exist. He was buried in the Ordenskirche (today: St. John's Co-Cathedral ) below the oratory, in the Bartolott Crypt. The church is famous for the many tombstones (colored marble inlay work) for the brothers who died in Malta. Micallef was the last member of the order who - then under British rule - was buried in this church, but no longer received a grave plate.

literature

  • Most of Micallef's works are listed in Ferdinand de Hellwald: Bibliographie méthodique ..., pp. 249–259. - Pawl Pietru Saydon: List of Publications by members of the teaching stuff of the University [of Malta] (1966) , Micallef mentions on p. 30.
  • The comments here are based on the short biography Micallef by Michael Galea and Wolf-Dieter Barz: Commendatore Fra Antonio Micallef 1725–1809 , in: Lectures on the Statutes of the Sacred Order of St. John of Jerusalem at the University (of Studies) of Malta 1792 by Antonio Micallef , ed. by Wolf-Dieter Barz and Michael Galea, Karlsruhe 2012, pp. 25–28.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Cassar, Paul: The Holy Infimary of the Knights of St. John, “La Sacra Infermeria”, 2nd ed., Valletta 1992. - Hume, Edgar Erskine: Medical work of the Knights Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, Baltimore 1940
  2. ^ Vella, Andrew P .: The University of Malta, Malta 1969
  3. ^ Micallef, Antonio: Lezioni su gli statuti del Sagr'Ordine Gerosolimitano nell'università degli studi di Malta, (Valletta) 1792
  4. ↑ See above in the references
personal data
SURNAME Micallef, Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Micallef, Dominic Antonio Xaver Vicentino Frà
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Religious of the Order of Malta
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1725
PLACE OF BIRTH Valletta , Malta
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1809
Place of death Valletta , Malta