Caterina Vitale

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Caterina Vitale ( Maltese Katarina Vitale , also called La Speziala ; * 1566 in Greece , † 1619 in Syracuse ) was the first female pharmacist and chemist in Malta and the first female pharmacist of the Knights and Hospitallers of Malta

Life

Caterina Vitale came from Greece. She married Ettore Vitale, the pharmacist of the Hospitaller Order. When her husband died in 1590, she had to sue the pharmacy as her heir to the civil court of Castellania . She was given the task of delivering medicines to the Order's Sacra Infermeria hospital . Vitale became a successful business woman, became very wealthy, and was known as a benefactress of the Carmelites .

Caterina Vitale died in Syracuse, Sicily, in 1619. Her body was brought to Valletta and buried in the Carmelite Church.

According to an account by Christine Muscat, Vitale was 12 when she married and became a pharmacist at the age of 14 after her husband was killed when a bomb exploded outside his home. She also worked in prostitution and then blackmailed the knights. She whipped and mistreated her eight slaves. The slaves went to court three times and complained, but Vitale was never held accountable for their connections.

Foundations

Vitale set the Monte della Redenzione degli Schiavi as their universal heir . This institution, founded by Alof de Wignacourt in 1607 , ransomed Christian Maltese who had fallen into the hands of pirates . However, Muslims enslaved in Malta were also exchanged. Extensive property in Fego di Salamone (today Selmun) belonged to their property, which belonged to the Monte della Redenzione . The Selmun Palace and the Mistra Gate were built on this property in the 18th century . Then there was house No. 138 on Archbishop Street; her niece Annica Faienza inherited house no. 135 there. Vitales daughter Isabella, who lived temporarily in the nunnery Maria Magdalena, complained to the Castellania about her inheritance. The monastery eventually received a fifth of the property.

Due to the inheritance of Vitales, the Monte della Redenzione received the funds for the first time to regularly buy Maltese free. In 1787 the foundation was merged with the Monte di Pietà (Monte di Sant'Anna) to form the Monte di Pietà e Redenzione degli Schiavi . The ransom of slaves expired in the early 19th century, whereupon the foundation was renamed Monte di Pietà . It operated as an independent institution until 1977. The Ministry of Finance has been responsible since April 1977. The Monte di Pietà still issues pawn loans for a period of three years.

literature

  • Susanna Hoe: Malta: Women, History, Books and Places. Women's History Press, Oxford 2016, ISBN 978-0-9572153-5-1 , pp. 368-369. ( Chapter 17, online , in the web archive)
  • Victor F. Denaro: Houses in Merchants street Valletta. In: Melita Historica. Vol. 2, No. 3, 1958, pp. 158-171.
  • Christine Muscat: Magdalene Nuns and Penitent Prostitutes. BDL Publishing, Valletta 2013, ISBN 978-99957-3396-4 .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Malta Independent : 'Sex In the City' tour: The knights and their ladies of the night . (English, March 25, 2007; accessed April 4, 2020)
  2. ↑ The house was destroyed and rebuilt in World War II. See: Victor F. Denaro: Houses… . P. 167.
personal data
SURNAME Vitale, Caterina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pharmacist of the Order of Malta in Malta
DATE OF BIRTH 1566
PLACE OF BIRTH Greece
DATE OF DEATH 1619
Place of death Syracuse , Sicily