Catholic Teaching Day – 11th October
G. De Piro’s contribution in the teaching of catechism in Malta at the beginning of the 20th century.
 
        Before the beginning of the 20th century several attempts had been made in Malta in favour of the promotion of catechism teaching, but a lot had still to be undertaken: many parishes lacked catechetical centres, and books, especially in Maltese, were still rare. In fact in 1912 Archbishop Peter Pace indicated that there was still room for improvement: “The first and most important duty is the teaching of christian doctrine to the grown ups and the children. The parishpriest and his assistant will be able to better carry on this duty if they seek the help of some other priest”. Four years later Fr George Preca affirmed something similar: “The teaching of catechism in the parishes was not well organised.” Fr Alexander Bonnici OfmConv., in Volume I of his hagiography of Saint George Preca, confirmed this: “The Island of Malta, because of the lack of teaching, was going through a very bad time … The teaching of religion, both for children and grown ups could be a lot better.”

        Even in the parishes where some kind of catechetical activity took place, the situation was still poor. In Rabat, for example, catechism classes existed even before 1908. We know that during that year the parishpriest, Fr Karm Sammut, had asked the Archbishop to nominate Fr Anton Ebejer as director of catechetical activities in the Parish. In spite of this we know from witnesses in the Diocesan Process of the Cause of Canonisation of Mgr J. De Piro, that even in this Parish this ministry was rather poor. In fact Anthony Scerri testified that: “At that time we learnt catechism for the First Holy Communion in the Parish Church (Rabat) or some similar place, and then nothing else.” Joseph Tonna almost repeated the same thing: “… at Rabat, children were only prepared for their First Holy Communion and their Confirmation. Besides, lessons were given there in makeshift classes in the church. One could say that they lacked organisation.” Paul Sammut confirmed the above: “I come from Rabat. At first I used to attend catechism lessons in St Paul’s Church or the Rabat Parish Church. Catechism lessons, however, were not very well organised here. Children were seated on a few benches in the Church. For teacher there would be some priest or some young man who frequented this Church. Teaching was very poor: we learnt everything by heart, mostly prayers and some simple truths. Methods of teaching and discipline were equally deplorable; teachers were very strict, often using their belts to beat children who misbehaved during lessons.”

De Piro’s personal contribution - In Mtarfa, a Rabat suburb
        If Rabat was lacking in well organised catechetical activities, much less were the small suburbs that surrounded it, like Mtarfa. De Piro’s charism to evangelise did not allow him to remain passive: he realised what the situation was, knew what had to be done, and took action. This was attested to by Mr Christian Scerri, a witness: “When I used to meet him (the Servant of God) on the bridge going to Mtarfa for the catechism classes, because he taught catechism there… Yes, when he found out that the children of this area did not learn any catechism, he started going there himself. And he was a Monsignor already!”
        The above testimony implied that the Servant of God undertook this evangelisation ministry when he was already burdened with lots of responsibilities! We do not know which specific years Scerri was referring to, but if we consider that De Piro became Monsignor in 1911, by that time he was already Director of Fra Diegu Institute, which had something like 138 girls in it. The previous year, in 1910, he had just started his Missionary Society. Its members depended on him for all the aspects of their life, whether human, academic or spiritual. And, De Piro went to Mtarfa on foot. This meant some half hour walk! Not to mention the fact that especially in those days the Maltese would have never imagined a monsignor teaching catechism to the small children of simple farmers. More and more was this not conceived by the Monsignori themselves. It was considered a lot downgrading for these dignitaries! Besides, Monsignor De Piro came from a noble family, and therefore himself a noble!

Editor’s note:

De Piro contributed personally towards the teaching of catechetics even in the Church’s charitable institutes.

De Piro’s contribution through his Society:
All the members, but especially the brothers, since the beginning of the Society.
Preparation of boys … for First Holy Communion and Confirmation … and even further than this.
A system more organised than elsewhere.
A better pedagogical system.
De Piro gave his support with his own physical presence.

Reference: Tony Sciberras, History of Catechetics in Malta, Malta, 2008.