Gaetano Mannarino

Don Gaetano Mannarino (Maltese: Dun Gejtanu Mannarino; 1733–1814) was a Maltese Roman Catholic priest who led an armed uprising against the Knights Hospitaller in September 1775. The rebellion was suppressed, and Mannarino was imprisoned for over two decades before being released during the French occupation of Malta in 1798.

Early life

Mannarino was born in Valletta in 1733 and was baptised at the parish church of St Paul's Shipwreck.[1][a] He was the second son of the merchant Giuseppe Mannarino and his wife Giovanna née Schembri Pace;[3] the family was sufficiently wealthy and they owned at least one female slave.[1]

Mannarino studied at the Floriana seminary and was ordained a Catholic priest on 23 September 1758. His older brother Paolo and his younger brother Antonio also became priests, while another brother Gio. Battista was a cleric.[1] Mannarino spent some time in Rome, where he participated in Jesuit missions in the city's outskirts and gained a reputation as a preacher. Upon his return to Malta, he was given permission to preach at the parish church of St Paul's Shipwreck.[3] He preached in the Maltese language,[1] and contemporaries described him as "a good priest but hard headed and obstinate ... some of his opinions being most strange."[3]

After his father's death, Mannarino was appointed as curator of his assets, and in 1767 he was living at his uncle's residence in Valletta.[1] On 31 December 1772, after he had recovered from a severe illness, Mannarino organised a thanksgiving procession towards the church of St Publius in Floriana and distributed food to beggars; this drew a large crowd and it alarmed the Hospitaller authorities, who closed the city gates and raised the alarm in anticipation of a riot.[3]

The magistracy of Hospitaller Grand Master Francisco Ximénez de Tejada which began in January 1773 was characterised by economic mismanagement, food shortages and disputes between the Hospitallers and the clergy which led to the recall of Bishop Giovanni Carmine Pellerano to Rome in April 1775.[4] Mannarino became a critic of Ximénez and of the Hospitallers' rule over Malta, and on one occasion he was physically assaulted by a knight named Galan.[5] These tensions eventually led to an armed uprising under Mannarino's leadership in 1775.[3]

Uprising of 1775

Main article: Rising of the Priests

Mannarino reportedly met with other conspirators in the sacristy of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in Pietà.[6] On 8 September 1775 – the feast day of the Nativity of Mary and the anniversary of a 1565 siege – Mannarino led a group of rebels to Fort Saint Elmo in Valletta, where they gained access with the assistance of corporal Antonio Antonurso of the Magistral Regiment.[7] The rebels successfully took control of the fort, while a separate group of rebels simultaneously took control of Saint James Cavalier at the opposite end of the city; by the morning of 9 September the rebels had lowered the Order's flags from the two fortresses and raised their own flags – either white and red standards[8] or banners of Saint Paul[9] – in their stead. Mannarino's rebels in St. Elmo fired a cannon shot and this was answered by another shot from the cavalier, alerting the city to the insurrection.[3]

The takeover of the fort and cavalier were meant to instigate a popular uprising among the Maltese peasantry and nobility, but this failed to materialise. The Hospitallers opened negotiations with the rebels,[3] and the latter's demands consisted of an amnesty for themselves, safeguarding of Maltese privileges, and a reduction in the price of grain.[10] The Hospitallers quickly retook the cavalier by force,[3] while negotiations continued with the remaining rebels led by Mannarino in the fort. At one point the rebels threatened to blow up the fort's gunpowder magazine,[7] but they fell into disarray after members of the fort's garrison who they had imprisoned fought back and killed one priest.[10] Mannarino and the remaining rebels surrendered by 11 September after it became clear that there would be no general uprising,[5] and they were detained by the Hospitallers.[3]

Imprisonment, release, and later life

Gaetano Mannarino and his brothers Antonio and Gio. Battista, who had also been involved in the revolt, remained imprisoned inside Fort Saint Elmo.[1] Mannarino engraved his name on one of the fort's walls while he was imprisoned; this graffito has survived and it was rediscovered during restoration works in the 21st century.[11] At some point, Mannarino is said to have been imprisoned in Fort Manoel, where he was kept under close guard after an escape attempt. When Hospitaller rule in Malta ended with a French invasion on 12 June 1798, Mannarino was released by the French authorities and he was welcomed by Napoleon as a martyr of liberty.[3]

Mannarino subsequently lived in a house in Cospicua.[1] After a Maltese uprising against the French occupation broke out in September 1798, the French government sent Mannarino as an emissary to the insurgents, but the latter rejected him and he lived the rest of his life in relative obscurity.[3] Mannarino's will and testament was prepared by the notary Antonio Delicata in Għaxaq on 8 May 1799, and this has been preserved at the Notarial Archives. He lived in Senglea during the early 19th century,[1] and he later retired to a small house in the village of St. Julian's. He died in April 1814, and was buried within the old church of St Mary in Birkirkara.[3][b]

Legacy

A tablet in Mannarino's memory was installed within the Birkirkara church on 1 November 1931.[12] A main road in Birkirkara is also named after him.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ One source states that Mannarino was born on 29 August 1733[2] while another gives his birth date as 2 September 1733 and states that he was baptised on the same day; the baptism date is known from records of the parish church of St Paul's Shipwreck.[1] Other sources state that he was born on 1 December 1722,[3] but the latter is incorrect since it contradicts church records, including records from 1767 which state that he was 34 years old at that point, supporting the 1733 date.[1]
  2. ^ Although most sources state that Mannarino died on 7 April 1814 in St. Julian's,[1][12] at least one 19th century source claims that he died on 17 April 1814 in Birkirkara.[13] At the time, St. Julian's formed part of the parish of Birkirkara.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k D'Anastas, Noel (2025). "250 sena mir-Rewwixta tal-Qassisin : il-ġrajja skont id-dokumenti fl-Arkivji Nazzjonali" (PDF). Programm tal-festa solenni tan-Nawfraġju ta' San Pawl, Valletta (in Maltese): 58–63. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b Sciberras, Sandro (2013). "Dun Gaetano Mannarino (1733–1814): Patrijott jew Traditur?" (PDF). Festa Santa Marija Birkirkara 2013: 18–19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Schiavone, Michael J. (2009). Dictionary of Maltese Biographies Vol. II G-Z. Pietà: Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza. pp. 1100–1102. ISBN 9789993291329.
  4. ^ Fava, Peter (1978). "A Reign of Austerity: Economic Difficulties During the Rule of Grand Master Ximenes (1773–1775)" (PDF). Storja (78): 42–59. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 July 2020.
  5. ^ a b Grima, Joseph F. (6 September 2020). "It happened in September: The insurrection of the priests in Malta in 1775". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 15 May 2025.
  6. ^ Busuttil, Roderick; Agius, Philippe. "Il-knisja tad-Duluri ~ Pietà ~". Kappelli Maltin (in Maltese). Archived from the original on 11 January 2020.
  7. ^ a b Borg-Muscat, David (2002). "Reassessing the September 1775 Rebellion: A Case of Lay Participation or a 'Rising of the Priests'?" (PDF). Melita Historica. 3 (2): 239–252. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016.
  8. ^ Blouet, Brian W. (2007). The Story of Malta. Allied Publications. p. 119. ISBN 9789990930818.
  9. ^ "Saint James Cavalier: Serving Valletta Since 1566". Saint James Cavalier. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024.
  10. ^ a b Bonnici, Arturo (7 February 1976). "L-Irvell tal-Qassisin" (PDF). Leħen is-Sewwa (in Maltese). pp. 3–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2021.
  11. ^ Galea Debono, Fiona (1 April 2011). "Fire for St Elmo". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024.
  12. ^ a b Schiavone, Michael (1 December 2023). "Biography: Gaetano Mannarino". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 18 February 2025.
  13. ^ Busuttil, V. (1890). A Summary of the History of Malta (PDF). Malta: G. Muscat. p. 138. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 May 2025.
  14. ^ Borda Vassallo, Frans (1995). "Profil: Dun Gejt Mannarino – Patrijott 1733–1814" (PDF). Festa Sant'Elena Birkirkara 1995 (in Maltese): 151, 153–154. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2025.
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