Francesco Saverio Ximenes de Texada : problems facing the Order of St. John during his Grandmastership, 1773-1775

Abstract

The reign of Grand Master Francesco Ximenes de Tezada is, relatively speak one of the shortest in the history of the Order of St, John of Malta. But this short span of time from January 28 1773 to November 9 1775 is a perfect specimen of the problems facing the Knights of Malta. In it are portrayed the endemic politico-religious problems, which assumed the threatening proportions and ended with the local Bishop Mgr. Joannes Carmine Pellerano having to leave the Island for good. That no grave quarrels are recorded with the Tribunal of the Holy Office is because Mgr. Antonio Lante, the Inquisitor, was advised by the Secretary of State to the Holy See to co-operate with the secular authorities in all possible ways in order not to jeopardise the precarious peace which had been established after the departure of Inquisitor Mgr. Giovanni Ottavio Manoinforte, during whose term of office is recorded the showdown between him and Grand Master Emmanuel Pinto, Ximenes predecessor, over the magisterial pre-supposed right to confiscate the property of the expelled Jesuits.