Philantropist

Gulielmo was the son of Anton Bonanno and Marianna née Cassar. A popular personality of his time, Bonanno was born in Valletta on March 21, 1831, and was baptised the day after by Rev. Anton Abela, OP at the parish church of Porto Salvo.

He joined the Order of Friars Minor as Diego on May 17, 1858 and as a lay brother. On 17 September he started the novitiate year and was given the name of Fra Diego. With his superior’s consent, he embarked on the noble apostolate of collecting funds to provide suitable homes for difficult and abandoned girls.

At first lodgings were provided in rented houses in Cospicua, Paola, Birkirkara, Balzan, and Ħamrun. In 1898 Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna* offered Fra Diego to finance the building of a new institute to serve as a home for several hundred girls which was opened in 1905.  His saintly disposition led him around Malta on a steadfast mission to restore dignity and peace to prostitutes, the sick, the poor, and the orphaned, irrespective of the fact that many despised him and even threatened him with death for his good work.

On 16 October 1932 the Maltese people honoured him with the inauguration of a public monument in Ħamrun.

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.

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