Fr Albert M. Grech O.P. (1883-1942) : a Latin-to-Maltese literary and religious translator

Abstract

The 1930s are considered to be a crucial era for modern Maltese: In 1934, the British Colonial Government recognised Maltese as an official language, together with English, ending once and for all the great Language Question which had dragged on since the previous century. Thus, Maltese became one of the official languages of the colony’s administration, used throughout the Law Courts and the Civil Service at the expense of the long-established Italian language. From the literary point of view, this decade gave us some of the best Maltese classics, both in prose and in poetry, particularly in 1938, the year our national poet Dun Karm completed his magnum opus Il-Jien u Lilhinn Minnu, Karmenu Vassallo published his book of poems Nirien and the year when Ġino Muscat Azzopardi, Ġużè Aquilina, Ġużè Ellul Mercer and Ivo Muscat Azzopardi published their novels in Maltese. It was during this same year that Fr Albert M. Grech O.P., a Dominican Latinist, finished the translation from Latin to Maltese of the first two books of L-Enejjija, Vergil’s Aeneid. Two years earlier, this fervent lover of Maltese published L-Għanjiet dwar l-Ewkaristija, a translation from Latin of St Thomas Aquinas’ five Eucharistic hymns. [excerpt]