Parish Priest of Qormi

The son of Jacobo and Agatha from Qormi, the brother of medical doctor Matteo, husband of Lorenza Xara and Medical Doctor Giacomo Cassia, Rev Franciscus was born on 1556. He must have been ordained priest abroad as his ordination has not been inserted in the local Register of Ordination.

Rev Cassia was assigned as Parish Priest of Qormi and was installed on 29 June 1585. The following year he was denounced before the Inquisitor on account of certain statements during his sermons that seemed unorthodox. He told his parishioners that they could eat meat on Christmas that year notwithstanding that it fell on a  Friday. He was subjected to interrogation but no steps were taken against him.

In 1590 and 1592 he had once more to face the same Tribunal on similar grounds – unorthodox statements. The Inquisition took drastic measures. After a normal trial and consultations with the Congregation of the Holy Office in Rome, he was found slightly guilty. He was sentenced to make a private abjuration of these doctrines. In 1592 he again was involved in another one at the local Curia, and he started lamenting that there were around him various persecutors who had been harassing him.

Notwithstanding these mentioned trials he had still to face further troubles. In 1597 the population of Qormi lamented that their Parish Priest absented himself very often from his residence to such an extent that on various occasions some parishioners died without receiving the Last Sacraments. In April 1604 at Bishop Gargallo’s orders, Rev Franciscus was dispossessed of the said parish and later the same month this office was granted to another ecclesiastic.

Together with his brother Rev Matthaeus, who was also vexed by Bishop Gargallo; both appealed to Rome. On 3 September 1604 Cardinal Marcello Lante Ordered Bishop Gargallo, to allow the Cassia brothers to proceed to Rome and go ahead with their appeal.

On the following 7 October, Cardinal Lante told the Inquisitor to reinstate Rev Franciscus in his parish notwithstanding that the local Bishop had already granted it to another priest. The same Cardinal in August 1605 insisted with the Inquisitor that no one was to vex Rev Franciscus regarding his parish prebend and its income while there was an appeal pending in front of the Roman Rota. He also informed also the Inquisitor that the Cassia brothers had been relieved from the Bishop’s jurisdiction and were subjected to that of the Inquisitor. This meant that the bishop could no longer inflict any censures on injunctions against them.  

Concurrently with all the problems he had to face, the parish of Qormi was passing through important decades of its existence – the building of a new parish church; a plan that had been in hand years before his appointment as parish priest. Work had already started in 1584. Although the building of this church was carried out throughout Rev Cassia’s term of office; it is difficult to assess his involvement in it, since, at that stage, lay procurators had a considerable weight in parish administration throughout the diocese.

In 1596 Rev Cassia commissioned a foreign artist – Matteo Fourbs or Fourbins? – to paint his portrait together with another painting representing St Mary Magdalene, at a cost of twelve and six scudi respectively.  After the completion of this commission, Cassia refrained from paying the artist his due. The artist sought redress through a lawsuit he instituted in the Bishop’s Curia.

Rev Francesco Cassia was buried at St George’s in the tomb reserved for parish priests.

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