Joe Felice Pace recounts when Aquilina declined the nomination as University rector.
A letter among the Aquilina papers at the National Archives reveals that in 1948 Ġużè Aquilina, then professor of Maltese and semitic languages at the Royal University of Malta (RUM), was being encouraged to apply for the post of vice-chancellor and rector of the university.
The rector at the time, Prof. Robert V. Galea, was due to retire on January 10, 1948, but the discussion regarding the selection of his successor was only placed on the agenda of the University Council that was to meet on January 8, 1948. Galea had occupied the post since 1934.
It was Fr Edward Coleiro, then reading for a Ph.D. in the classics at London University, who wrote to Aquilina urging him to apply for the post.
At the time, the RUM council was discussing the terms of reference that were to be issued when the call for applications was to be published. Aquilina was a member of the council and at a meeting of April 30, 1948, he said that the matter had two aspects, namely the extension or otherwise of the terms of office of the incumbent and secondly, the laying down of the conditions of appointment and the qualifications of the candidates for the post.
It was agreed that an extension should be granted to Galea till September 30, 1948. It was also agreed that steps were to be taken to appoint the new vice-chancellor and rector in good time to enable him to familiarise himself with his duties prior to taking up his post on October 1, 1948. On May 11, 1948, the terms of reference were discussed by the university senate.
Coleiro's communication, dated May 19, 1948 (reproduced herewith), says that Prof. P.P. Saydon, then professor of Scripture, had informed him that he (Aquilina) was being offered nomination for the post. Saydon also said that Aquilina was not too keen to say 'yes'.
From what can be read between the lines, Aquilina was afraid that the time was not ripe for him to resign the post of professor of Maltese when the cathedra was still in its infancy. At the time he was also engaged in research work as part of his initiative to bring the Maltese language to the attention of international academic circles.
Coleiro tells Aquilina that were he to become rector he would be in a position to be of benefit to the cause of the Maltese language. "As rector you will have the key to everything, and would not only be able to place Maltese on solid foundations (sisien taż-żonqor) but would also be able to fulfil a big reform programme which we both wish to see in place" (a literal translation from the Maltese). After all, Coleiro said, the post was only for five years and he could then revert to his professorship.
Further on in the letter, Coleiro tells Aquilina that he would have the chance to make of the University the envy of English universities. It would certainly lead to a serious reform "once and for all", which would make of the University "a true university".
Aquilina must have stuck to his decision not to accept the nomination. He might have replied to Coleiro (other letters show that there were ongoing exchanges between the two both before and after this letter).
But Coliero's papers no longer exist, having been burnt, on his explicit orders; and that goes also for so many studies and manuscripts of a scholarly nature.
When faced with some resistance by a relative of his, it is said that Coleiro insisted on having all his papers burnt because some of them contained comments on people who were still around.
There the story ends, even if one is tempted to say that, had Aquilina accepted nomination, his chances of getting the post were quite high. And the subsequent history of the University itself might have taken a different twist.
Ultimately, at a council meeting held on August 17, 1948, the members were informed that Prof. Joseph A. Manchè had been chosen from among four nominees. On the August 24, the senate passed a resolution congratulating him. His letter of appointment bears the date August 20 and he took up his post on October 1.
At the time Manchè was acting professor of Physics at the RUM and senior medical officer at the Department of Health. He had had a important role in the completion of St Luke's Hospital and during World War II had shouldered the responsibility of organising the government's emergency services.
The records of the RUM council do not contain the names of the other three applicants, but a file in the University archives bearing the name of Fr Seraphim Zarb contains copies of the applications, with supporting reference documents, submitted by the four candidates. Among them is the application submitted by Zarb himself. At the time he occupied the post of professor of Dogmatic Theology following a long trait, lasting from 1925 to the beginning of World War II, as professor at the Pontifical University 'Angelicum' run by the Dominicans in Rome.
The other candidates were Dr J.P. Naudi and Dr W. Burridge. The former was a Maltese who had spent a long time in Nigeria where he was, at the time, deputy director, medical services, in charge of the 12 northern provinces of the country, which at that time was still a British colony. He was also a member of the northern legislative House of assembly, representing government medical services.
Burridge was an Oxonian who, at the time, had settled in Malta. He was married to Jane Cassar-Torregiani and had retired in the island after having served for long years at King George's College in Lucknow, Burma.