https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/94930 Wed, 11 Nov 2026 22:42:35 GMT 2026-11-11T22:42:35Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150909 Title: Voices through a visitation : clergy, parish life, and ecclesiastical reform in the apostolic visitation of Pietro Dusina (Malta, 1575) Authors: Doublet, Nicholas Joseph Abstract: The apostolic visitation conducted in Malta in 1575 by Mgr Pietro Dusina, delegate of Pope Gregory XIII, represents one of the most important documentary sources for understanding the condition of the Maltese Church in the decade immediately following the Council of Trent. Undertaken within the broader programme of post-Tridentine reform, the visitation sought to assess the discipline of clergy, the administration of the sacraments, the condition of churches and benefices, and the conformity of local practices with the norms promulgated by the Council. [excerpt] Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150909 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150826 Title: Sanctuary of Mercy : the Madonna tal-Ħniena of Qrendi and the shaping of rural devotion in Malta Authors: Doublet, Nicholas Joseph; Buhagiar, Michael Abstract: This study aims to recover and interpret the history of the Sanctuary of the Madonna tal-Ħniena in Qrendi, situating it within the broader patterns of Maltese rural religiosity and ecclesiastical administration from the early modern period to the twentieth century. The research question at its heart is simple yet farreaching: How did a modest rural church, first recorded in the Apostolic Visitation of Pietro Dusina in 1575—although its origins lie in medieval times—evolve into a prominent Marian Sanctuary that came in many ways to embody the faith, aspirations, and communal identity of the rural village it formed part of and beyond?; To approach this question, this work relies primarily on archival sources preserved in the Archiepiscopal Archive of Malta, particularly Suppliche, Conti, Pastoral Visitations, Inventories and Proprietà Fondiaria. These documents enable us to move beyond purely antiquarian or devotional narratives and reconstruct the Sanctuary’s development in dialogue with the social, economic, and spiritual realities of the community that sustained it. Rather than focusing on stylistic or art-historical analysis, the methodology here adopts a social-historical lens, treating documents as windows into the lived experiences of the faithful, revealing the interplay between piety, property, and pastoral oversight. In this sense, the Sanctuary is understood not simply as a building, but as a nexus of relationships between clergy and laity, local devotion and diocesan structures, and the rhythms of agriculture and the liturgical calendar.; The book is divided into several interrelated parts. It begins by setting the broader context of Qrendi as a village shaped by faith, tracing the emergence of its parochial identity, the role of confraternities and sodalities, and the decisive contributions of individual pastors, procurators and patrons. Against this background, the origins and early devotion of the Sanctuary of tal-Ħniena are examined, with Dusina’s visitation offering the earliest surviving testimony, even though the sanctuary’s beginnings are rooted in the lost medieval past. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150826 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150812 Title: Saints and sanctuaries related to the sea and seafarers in the Maltese Islands – an overview Authors: Doublet, Nicholas Joseph Abstract: The Maltese identity is tied to the sea surrounding this small archipelago at the centre of the Mediterranean. Throughout its long history, its people have seen in these waters both the assurance of survival - the security of food and riches - and the threat of destruction. Basing itself on topographical and archival sources, the present work seeks to shed light on the spirituality of these island people through a study of its devout manifestations throughout history, stretchingfrom the late medieval period to the present time. It will illustrate the manifestations of this maritime spirituality in three ways:firstly, by identifying which saints the Maltese seafarers chose as their own, secondly through a presentation of the coastal shrines in which these saints were venerated; and finally, by explaining the role that these sanctuaries played in the articulation of a national consciousness and identity.; Malteski identitet neraskidivo je povezan s morem koje okruzuje ovaj mali otok u sredistu Sredozemlja. Kroz svoju dugu povijest, njegovi su stanovnici u tim vodama vidjeli i jamstvo opstanka - sigurnost hrane i bogatstva - ali i prijetnju unistenja. Oslanjajuci se na topografske i arhivske izvore, ovo istrazivanje nastoji rasvijetliti duhovnost otocnog naroda kroz proucavanje njegovih poboznosti tijekom povijesti, od kasnog srednjeg vijeka pa sve do danasnjih dana. Rad prikazuje izraze pomorske duhovnosti na tri nacina: prvo, identificiranjem svetaca koje su malteski pomorci smatrali svojima; drugo, predstavljanjem priobalnih svetista u kojima su ti sveci bili stovani; i naposljetku, objasnjenjem uloge koju su ta svetista imala u oblikovanju nacionalne svijesti i identiteta. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150812 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150811 Title: From the Convitto in Notabile to Saint Ignatius college in Saint Julian's : Jesuit colleges in nineteenth-century Malta Abstract: The return of the Society of Jesus to Malta in 1839, following its suppression in these islands in 1768 and its universal dissolution by Clement XIV through the brief Dominus ac Redemptor (1773), inaugurated a new chapter in the island's religious and educational history. Following the upheavels of the Napoleonic era in Europe, the Society of Jesus was restored by Pope Pius VII, on August 7, 1814. It however took a quarter of a century for the Jesuits to return to Malta, now a British colony. As Konrad Grech has documented in his authoritative study of the Jesuit apostolate in Malta between 1839 and 1860, the first missionaries to return found a spiritual landscape that was certainly receptive, yet also challenging. Key structures - among them the Chiesa del Gesu' in Valletta and Casa Manresa in Floriana - were not returned to the Society, even though they provided a first base for their ministry. The presence of the charismatic Father Massimiliano Ryllo (1802-1848), whose brief but eventful passage through the island in 1839, and a longer stay in 1841-43, left a lasting impression on clergy and laity alike, set the tone for what was to follow. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/150811 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z