Canon Francesco Saverio Caruana 1759-1847

Abstract

The greater part of this paper will be concerned with how Canon Francesco Saverio Caruana came to the limelight. It is something like unique case of a man achieving supreme power through his own merits, or at least as a result of a series of exceptional circumstances which he succeeded admirably in turning to his own advantage. After all this is the story of the greatest number of great men. Canon Caruana has had no lack of chroniclers and all of them were either dedicated admirers or passionate detractors. Few historical characters in Maltese history have in the course of their lifetime been so thoroughly observed, judged and described by their contemporaries. But paradoxically enough, the picture which history retained of Caruana is based more on slander and on formal eulogies than on objective research. Francesco Saverio Caruana was born during the last phase of the Knights of St John's stay in Malta. The Order of the hospitalliers had forsaken its'raison d'etre' and after eight-hundred years of glorious history was now living on its laurels. Piracy had abated and the knights had also entered into commercial treaties with their former enemies. The island of Malta consequent had to endure the political changes both of the Order and that of the Mediterranean In those days a Maltese was looked upon and judged in the light of his ancestory. This was due to the fact that since the members of the Order of St John were aristocrats, nobility was searched in all occasions of promotion. But in Caruana's case one is bound to say that he achieved greatness through his own efforts, his intrigues, his ambitions, and not because he had inherited his family's name. His family came from a humble village where agriculture and some minor trade were perhaps higher than in any other village on the island. He had chosen the career of a clergyman because he really felt that he was called for that vocation and it seemed that there was no reason why he could not follow the divine call. His career was a very active one, and in later years his efforts, indeed his ambitions, were to be crowned with the bishopric.