Aspects of Catholicism in late hospitaller Malta : the perspective of a contemporary Hospitaller Ambassador 1758-1778

Abstract

The object of the present dissertation is to analyse aspects of Maltese Catholicism as seen through the eyes of a contemporary Hospitaller ambassador residing in the city of Rome. The Bailli Jacques Laure le Tonnelier de Breteuil was the Order of St John's chief diplomat in the capital of Christendom from 1758 to 1778. During his tenure of office, he witnessed a powerful political movement of anti-papalism, culminating in the expulsion and eventual suppression of the Jesuits. For many, the latter were the most ardent supporters of 'arrogant papal prerogatives'. Breteuil witnessed these events in Rome and understood the development of Maltese politics in that very particular context. Breteuil's correspondence sheds significant light on the role played by foreign powers in local Maltese politics and especially in the vicissitudes of Maltese Catholicism, which in the eighteenth century served as a medium and expression of these power politics. The Papacy, Naples, France and Spain had important vested interests in Malta. Maltese Catholicism had never been a local autonomous reality: external exigencies played a determining role. Hospitaller Malta found itself in this rough sea of international politics, dominated by other powerful players. Its autonomy was restricted, not least by the direct and indirect interference of these great powers. The Hospitaller state, particularly its government, was conscious of its political, economic and military limitations. Its dual roles as a religious institute and a secular state also moulded the nature of its domestic politics and its diplomacy.