Foundation of the Jesuit college in Malta : 1592

Abstract

Given its strategic position in the centre of the Mediterranean the Maltese archipelago was, in the words of A. Renaudet, "the waterfront of Italy against the Turkish danger" . It was, during the sixteenth century, the bulwark of Christianity in the Mediterranean. Malta was well within the commonwealth of Christian States, and more specifically within the Catholic sphere, in its whole religious and political set-up. This became even more evident after the Great Siege of 1565, an event which opened a new chapter in Maltese history. Malta was recognised, for the first time, as a nation and a sovereign state. There was the acknowledgement of European States that the Maltese archipelago, strengthened by the Knights of the Order of St. John, was indeed the bulwark of the "Christian Republic" . The Maltese renaissance flourished under the Order of St John. The Order itself was revitalised. It rediscovered its moral obligations and that of Europe towards the crusades in a new form. The Turks, who were gaining dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, became the object of the Order's military strategies. [excerpt]