Mons Injazju Panzavecchia (1855 – 1925): Prelate and Politician        The Senglean Mons Injazju Panzavecchia was one of the most renowned persons in Malta in the beginning of the twentieth century. Injazju was born in Senglea on the 21st November 1855. He worked in Senglea as a Priest and Canon of the Collegiate. He was the Secretary of the Chapter, director of the Hospice of St Anne and a very high profile person. As a priest he did all he could to defend the church rights and as a citizen of Malta he strove so that Malta could take its due from the colonial Government. In 1891 he was elected for the first time on the Committee of Government. In those days he was on the forefront so that civil marriage would not be introduced in Malta.

      Mons Panzavecchia was also inspired by the Catholic teachings and he was a great admirer of the Italian culture which he considered as the backbone of the European and Latin culture in Malta. In 1910 he set up the Comitato Patriottico with the idea that the Maltese, in a patriotic sense, would never let themselves be trampled on by the British. He continued his struggle so that Malta could have its own constitutional rights without at the same time showing any disloyalty to the British Government. In 1918 Mons Panzavecchia took active part in the National Assembly set up by Doctor Filippo Sciberras. At the same time Panzavecchia founded his own political party called the Unione Politica Maltese. In the elections of 1921 his party obtained the majority but he did not accept to take the mantle of Prime Minister, instead he himself proposed that the post should be filled by Joseph Howard.

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