SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES - 33

 The social and Christian situation in Senglea two hundred years ago

      Even though a detailed story of Senglea has been written, there are always details to be explained or clarified. In this chapter we will be dealing with that period when the parish of Senglea was led by the Archpriest Salv Bonnici. Dun Salv was not born in Senglea but for sixteen years he was the co-ordinator in the parish and so by the time he became Parish priest in 1778 he had grown attached to the city. He was the Parish priest who worked a lot so that the church could be elevated to the status of Collegiate and so he became the first Archpriest. We are going to look into the period 1783-1789. In 1786, Senglea’s church was elevated to the status of Collegiate.

      Dun Salv Bonnici started to prepare a detailed list of all those persons who lived in the parish and so fell under his spiritual jurisdiction. The register he prepared was called ‘Status Animus’ (Spiritual register) because the details he kept pertained mostly to the spiritual side of the citizens of Senglea.

 A reform which he wished to be more successful

      Dun Salv was Parish priest who later on became an Arch priest. He was full of enthusiasm. The reform proposed was needed following the turbulent time the parish went through during the time of Parish priest Fortunat Vella. Dun Bert Ellul was his assistant. By 1783 Dun Salv Bonnici was very worried because he realised that there were many of the population just could not care less about their spiritual needs. The population of Senglea was four thousand six hundred and forty nine and there were forty six priests to serve their pastoral needs. There were also nine celibate clergy men. According to the mode in those days, six married men were also tonsured. They had very close connection with the church (1).

      Notwithstanding all this, in Senglea, a city which had lots of contact with sea faring people, there were ninety three persons who did not want to go either for confession or to receive Holy Communion, not even during Eastertide. The Parish priest considered them as lost sheep and people difficult to convince to change their lives. For obvious reasons the Parish priest was more worried about fallen women than fallen men. Women, when the situation was very bad could only restore to one way of life. But for others there were various reasons which made them stay away from the Sacraments. Of the ninety three persons, seventy six were women and seventeen were men.

     The Parish priest and his assistant went to talk to these persons personally. They even warned them about the awful consequences of leading a wayward life. If they were to die in the state of sin the church could not bury them in the usual church manner. After these talks three women turned a new leaf and started to receive the Sacrament albeit after Eastertide.     Dun Salv Bonnici gives the following reasons why people in Senglea were keeping away from the Sacraments, namely:

     a)      there were some who were leading an immoral life and did not want to change their way no  

              matter what;

b)      others were ignorant of what the teaching of Religion was;

c)      there were others who were married but were living apart from their partners. They needed a licence from the Bishop to live separate from their partners. Some did not bother to ask for this licence. Others asked for it but did not want to follow the directives given by the Bishop’s Curia.

The different sections in Senglea

      Senglea in those days was divided into five sections. Each section was made up of different blocks of building. Most of the population of Senglea lived inside the perimeter marked by the bastions surrounding Senglea. There was also Fort St Michael, which was situated just off the church. The Knights did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Parish Priest. In the fort there were also some Maltese living there. In 1785 there were twelve persons three of them were seven-year old kids (3).

      During the time when the parish church was elevated to the status of Collegiate, slight improvement could be noted in the spiritual side of the parishioners. In each Status Animarum, the Parish priest used to note the name of those persons who refused to receive the Sacrament. In those days there was also the tradition of presenting a card that showed that one has been to Communion during Eastertide. The addresses of these relapsers are also noted in the register. During his time Dun Salv Bonnici brought their number down but still the highest number of relapsers was women. Sometimes one of these women would ask for a priest when she thinks that she is about to die. Dun Salv Bonnici used to make a note of all these conversions. The relapsers dropped by half during Dun Salv Bonnici’s time in office.

      The statistics are very reliable with regards to the Christian population. But there were yearly changes of those who were considered to have an obligation to confess. We can point out to young children or incapable persons who were exempted. All mental cases were not considered as being capable to confess. In those days the parish of Senglea was one of the largest parishes in Malta (4).

      The following is detailed structure of the state of the parish in those days.

 1: CEM, St. A., 17, n. 1, f.14v

2: Ibid., f.16r-v.

3: Ibid., 6, n.10, ff.2r,50r-52r.

4: This information is taken from: CEM, St. A., 17, n.1 (1783); 37, n.2 (1784); 6, n.10(1785); 7, n.10(1786); 20, n.12 (1787); 9,n.9(1788); 10,n.10(1789).

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