Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LIA5026

 
TITLE Maltese Historical and Ecclesiastical Archives

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT Library Information and Archive Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit focuses on the development of the local diocesan bureaucratic structure as well as the parish administrative system through the study of their archival history and heritage. The unit focuses on: the development of the Maltese Diocesan administrative structures, from the establishment of the Metropolitan Chapter and Tribunals in the late medieval period to the modern period; the functioning of the local Curia and its territorial divisions during the Hospitaller period; the development of the Maltese parish system; the administrative reforms of the Second Vatican Council up to the present day.

The key-historical points of the diverse religious orders and lay confraternities in the Maltese context from the middle age up to today and their archival holdings will be also discussed.

The unit also includes site-visits in the local ecclesiastical archives.

Study-Unit Aims:

To make students aware of the main archival and manuscript collections of the Church in Malta from different periods on the Diocesan and Parish level.
     
- To provide an understanding of the administrative history of the Catholic Church.
- To expose students to the various research possibilities that such collections offer.
- To make students aware of the challenges still facing such collections, when it comes to issues of:
- Accessibility;
- Preservation;
- Awareness of Researchers.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Demonstrate knowledge of the different archives and manuscript collections related to the Church in Malta and the administrative history of their creators;
- Gain knowledge of the different research tools available for such collections and be able to assess their archival validity;
- Describe the archival roles that manuscript and archival holdings constitute in the national memory and identity of the Maltese nation;
- Abe to identify areas of innovation that can be tapped in strengthening the archival dimension of Malta’s Ecclesiastical written heritage;
- Synthesize similarities and differences in content and research potential of the different archival holdings pertaining to the Church in Malta on the diocesan and parochial level;
- Comprehend and critically describe the administrative history of the Maltese Diocese, parishes, religious orders and confraternities.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Evaluate and describe the records and their context of production in a given Ecclesiastical archive/s;
- Identify challenges and design strategies for the managing records;
- Design ways on how to promote accessibility to archival records;
- Shed light on the major aspects of the Maltese Church history and society through archival holdings.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Aquilina, G. (1993). The Carmelites, the Oratorians and the Nuns in Birgu. In Birgu the Maritime City. Malta: Malta University Services;
- Aquilina, G. & Fiorini, S. (1994). The Origin of Franciscanism in Late Medieval Malta;
- Aquilina, G. & Fiorini, S. (1996). New Documents relating to the Origins of Religious Orders in Malta. In Proceedings of History Week 1994 (pp. 1-23);
- Aquilina, G. & Fiorini, S. (2001). Documentary Sources of Maltese History, Part IV, Documents at the Vatican, Visita Apostolica di Mons. P. Dusina;
- Aquilina, G. & Fiorini, S. (2005). Documentary Sources of Maltese History, Part IV, Documents at the Vatican, Cancelleria Apostolica and related sources at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1417-1479;
- Aquilina, G. (2011). Jerosolimitan Nuns The Church And Monastery Of Saint Ursula Valletta – Malta;
- Bezzina, J. (2002). In Bezzina J. (Ed.), Developing norms for the ecclesiastical archives of the future University of Malta. Faculty of Theology;
- Bonnici, Arthur. (1974). The Archiepiscopal Archives, Malta. Melita Historica, 6(3), 307;
- Busuttil, J. (2003). Descriptive Handlist of the Archiepiscopal Archives, Floriana. Melita Historica, 13(4), 421-423;
- Ciappara, F. (2020). Confraternal Charity in Early Modern Malta. In Church History and Religious Culture, 100(1), 24-42;
- Fiorini, S. & Zammit W. (Eds.). (2018). Ecclesiastical archives in Malta: Crossroads of cultures and religion, 1968-2018 (pp. 171-195). Mdina: Cathedral Archives;
- Fiorini, S. (2019). The Parchments of the Mdina Cathedral Archives, Malta 1420-1959.

Online sources:

- Malta Parish Archives website. Retrieved from: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org/
- HMML. Malta Study Center website. Retrieved from: https://hmml.org/research/msc/; HMML. Malta Manuscripts. Retrieved from: https://hmml.org/collections/malta/; HMML Reading Room. Retrieved from: https://www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/ HMML Museum. Retrieved from: - https://www.vhmml.org/museum

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Fieldwork

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Practical SEM2 Yes 50%
Report SEM2 Yes 50%

 
LECTURER/S Nicholas Joseph Doublet

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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