GRANDMASTERS WHO HAD CONNECTIONS WITH SENGLEA

 By Anthony Caruana

        As one is coming up the hill leading to the entrance of Senglea, during the period of the feast of Maria Bambina, one can see some flags of the Order of St John flying on top of the bastion. These eight flags are related to the history of the Unconquered City and of the Parish of Maria Bambina during the time the Knights of Malta were in our islands. We are here going to take a brief look at each flag and its relation to our city and the connections there are with the various Grand Masters.

We will start with the middle flat on top of the main gate. This is the official flag of the Order of St John. On a red background there is the eight pointed white cross in the middle. This ‘Maltese Cross’ has been the symbol of this order since it was set up in the City of Jerusalem in 1099. The main significance of this eight pointed cross are the eight beatitudes Jesus Christ taught us and represent also the four cardinal virtues, namely Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude which each Christian is urged to follow. The background is normally red but at times even black is used as was the norm with the Knights of the Holy Cross.

As one faces the bastions from outside the gates the flag on the far right belongs to the Portuguese Grand Master Juan de Homedes y Cascon who was the reigning Grand Master from 1536-1553. During his time in office the building of Fort St Michael was taken in hand and duly completed. It was inaugurated on the 8th May 1552. This fort was the first step towards the building of Senglea and played a bit part during the Great Siege of 1565 when it withstood the attack of the Turks and was instrumental in the final victory obtained by the Maltese and the Knights.

Without doubt the French Grand Master Claude de la Sengle had the closest relation with our city. He was Grand Master from 1553-1557, and during his time in office in 1554 he founded the city which took his name of Senglea. His flag is the one on the left of the flag of the Order.

On the left hand side of the main gate one finds the flag of the Grand Master who is synonymous with the Great Siege of 1565 none other than the French Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette who governed over our islands from 1557-1568. This was a very busy period and a lot of military construction works were undertaken including the building of our capital city Valletta. The Great Siege began on the 18th May 1565 and ended with a victory for the Maltese and the Knights of the Order of St John on the 8th September 1565. During those four months the Maltese and the Knights fought as hard as can be in order to defend our islands with all their military strength and spiritual help. One of the fiercest attacks was carried out on the 15th July 1565 when Fort St Michael was attacked. During this attack the Turks lost a lot of men but they did not manage to overcome the fort and enter Senglea. This led to Grand Master La Valette to declare the City of Senglea, the unconquered city: Citta Invicta.

The 8th September 1565 meant for the Maltese the day of victory over the Turks but on that day the Church celebrates the liturgical feast of the Birth of Our Lady and so from that day onwards this feast day became to be known as the feast of Our Lady of Victories. Some after the Great Siege the people of Senglea built a church in the vicinity of Fort St Michael as a monument of the Great Siege of 1565. In 1581, this church dedicated to Our Lady of Victories was elevated to the state of parish. For this reason one of the flats on the bastions is that of the French Grand Master Jean L’Evesque de la Cassiere who was in office from 1572-1581. The exact date when the church was declared a parish is unknown but from documents of the Fraternity of the Blessed Sacrament which are found in the archives of the Archbishop’s Curia we know that it was before the 11th March 1581.

When we look again at our bastions we cannot but not notice the watch tower which is guarding the main entrance to the city. On its left we have three flats of another three Grand Masters who while in office important events in the history of Senglea took place. For twenty uninterrupted years we had two brothers as Grand Masters, namely Rafael Cotoner y de Oleza and Nicholas Cotoner y de Oleza who held office from 1660-1663 and from 1663-1680 respectively. The Cotoner brothers used the same family symbol namely a cotton bush on a yellow background. These two Grand Masters are still remembered for the fortifications they built. Their main asset was when they built fortifications around the cities of Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua and this area has since been called Cottonera.

Next to the Cotoner flag we find the flag belonging to the Aragonese Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Rocaful (1697-1720) which instead of the cotton bush has three pears on its flag. During the time of this Grand Master the entrance to our city was replace in 1707 by the gate which still exists nowadays. The gate is not too ornamented, comprising of just four pillars and three coat-of-arms in the middle. These coat-of-arms were destroyed during the time of the French in Malta. While one is entering through this gate one can see a stone balcony on the inside which resembles a small chapel and is dedicated to St Anne, patron saint of city gates.

At the far end of the bastions, in the shadow of the clock tower and the Primary School there is the flat of the last Grand Master who had any connections with Senglea. In 1786, Pope Pius VI following the intervention of the Bishop Mons Vincenz Labini and with the help and support of the Grand Master Emmanuele de Rohan de Polduc elevated the parish of Senglea to the post of Collegiate Insignis. This Grand Master was in office from 1775 to 1797 and he honoured our city by his visit on the 8th September 1777 and he was one of the prime factors why our unconquered city achieved such a prestigious title.

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