SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES - 31 & 32
The first meeting of the committee in charge of the re construction of the church in Senglea
The Archpriest Canon Manuel Brincat decided to set up a committee to supervise the work needed on the re construction of the very extremely damaged Basilica of Senglea. The members of the committee were: the Archpriest; the Hon. Edgar Cuschieri (Government Treasurer), the Magistrate W. Soler, Mr C. Thake (Assistant Secretary on behalf of the Government), the Canon Arthur Bonnici (as Secretary of the Archbishop), the architects J. Mallia Milanes and M. Borg Costanzi and the Canons Goffrey Lubrano and Frangisk Abela.
The first meeting was held on the 29th January 1945 at 92 Bishop Street, Valletta, the home of architect Borg Costanzi. The members of the committee were asked to give their opinion each in his own capacity. For this meeting architect Mallia Milanes and Canon Arthur Bonnici were not present.
The Archpriest explained that half the church was completely destroyed but some work was already in hand. Most of the fallen stones and debris had already been cleared. The Archpriest informed the committee that the Government had already found people to clear up the remaining debris.
The architect Borg Costanzi said that he and architect Mallia Milanes had already examined the church but they could not submit the final report before all the debris had been cleared.
Canon Lubrano queried whether it was better to build the church from scratch than trying to mend what was left, especially since there were a lot of defects in its architecture. Archpriest Brincat told them that the Archbishop Michael Gonzi was absolutely against the idea of building a completely new church. He was of the idea that the necessary alterations be carried out and then modified on according to the instructions and plans made by the architects in charge. The Hon. Cuschieri told them that it was better not to go into much detail for the time being especially since the architects’ report was not yet ready.
The Archpriest had asked the Royal Malta Artillery whether they would volunteer to remove the bells from the belfries but they suggested that private contractors were better equipped to do such a job. The Archpriest proposed that the talks to the Admiralty so that he could borrow the necessary equipment from the dockyards for such work.
The Archpriest was elected president of the committee and Canon Lubrano secretary.
Further meetings were held regularly. They were held at the Oratory of St Philip in Senglea.
SENGLEA THROUGH THE AGES - 32
The Inquisitor Stoppani tried to help in the setting up of the Conservatory Sagnani in Senglea.
New documents throw new light on what was written in third volume of the history of Senglea*. In the 18th century a Conservatory was going to be set up in Senglea and it was planning to have different laws and regulations from other conservatories. It was proposed that the Inquisitor would run this conservatory. The founders of the conservatory were the sisters Sagnani and de Lucca. The inquisitor at that time was Mons Giovanni Francesco Stoppani (1731-1735). Actually the first attempts to set up this conservatory took place just before his arrival, but the formalities to get the necessary approval took some time to conclude.
A document found recently showed that on the 3rd March 1731 while Stoppani was on his way to Malta, he made some research at the Holy Office in Rome, to see whether there are other conservatories which do not fall under the jurisdiction of a Bishop. His search showed that there were no such cases. On the 22nd April 1731 Stoppani was very much in favour that the Inquisitor in Malta takes over the jurisdiction of the temporary matters in the new Conservatory. He explained that this could be very beneficial to the conservatory itself.
If in the future the Conservatory would be in need of funds than the Inquisitor could help it by giving it funds usually allocated to the Factory of St Peter. These funds were available from legacies left with the church.
The Commission of the Holy Office took some time to reply to Stoppani. There were someprobabilities that the sisters would donate their money to other societies. The Inquisitor Stoppani was totally against losing these funds and so on the 1st December 1731 he again wrote to the Holy Office so that they hurry up and decide on this matter. He closed his letter in this manner: ‘Therefore I humbly plea with your Eminences that you reach a decision soon, and say how you feel about this matter, so that further delay would not be detrimental to such a plan which is so much needed on the islands.’
Complete agreement was reached in 1742, long after Stoppani had left Malta. The duties of the Inquisitor and of the Bishop were clearly defined. We know from historical documents that the Conservatory in the vicinity of St Philip was like a monastery and was of great benefit to the young girls of Senglea.
*The original information is found in the History of Senglea, Volume II pages 252-256. New information was found in the Archives of the Inquisitor, Correspondence 94, ff 260 4-v, 283v.