The influence of the Church in Malta : social and political aspects, 1798-1829

Abstract

There has never been any doubt in historians’ minds on the importance of the Catholic Church in Maltese history. Although various books, published in different eras, shed light on the Church’s predominance or otherwise in Maltese society during different periods of our island’s history, the relations between the Church and the British colonial government during the first thirty years of Britain’s administration of the island of Malta have not been dealt with in detail. This study hopes to fill this gap, a void which could not be fully understood without stepping backwards into the eighteenth century to assess the position of the Church under the last years of the Order’s rule and during the administration of the island by the French. The most important reforms were made by the British in 1828 when they finally managed to do away with sanctuary and the clergy's immunity from the civil courts. Ecclesiastical historians have tended to refer mostly to these changes without studying in detail what had occurred before and finally led to them Throughout the thesis, the Bishops of the Maltese diocese have been referred to as ‘Bishops of Malta’. Since 1797, Bishop Labini was also titular Archbishop of Rhodes, a title which was also inherited by Bishop Mattei in 1807.

Hopefully, the information found in this thesis will provide a stimulus to other students and researchers to venture forth into exploring in more detail than has hitherto been done, the role of the Catholic Church in Maltese society and politics.