Professor of Dogmatic Theology
Born in Valletta, the son of Pasquale Eminyan and Maria née Camilleri. His great-grandfather, a Catholic Armenian, escaped persecution and settled in Libya, which was then under Italian rule. This Italian influence remained even after the family moved to Malta, and Maurice was sent to an Italian school, Umberto Primo in Valletta for eight years. He later attended the Lyceum.
At the age of fifteen, he felt inclined to become an architect, however, following a retreat held at St Aloysius College for boys from the Valletta Catholic Action Club, he was strongly drawn by the Ignatian Spirituality he had come to know.
In September 1939, Maurice sailed for Sicily to join the Jesuit novitiate at Bagheria. And there began a journey that would last 71 years in the service of God.
In 1943, together with three other Maltese Jesuit students, Maurice Eminyan SJ crawled through a barbed wire fence away from war-torn Italy into Switzerland, and from then on there was no looking back.
Switzerland, Italy, Malta, and England, saw Maurice Eminyan through work and study, and finally, ordination to the priesthood in the United States in 1952, and solemn profession as a Jesuit in 1957.
He graduated Lic. Phil. from Heythrop College, Oxford (1946), SThLic. from Woodstock College, Washington (1953), and SThD from the Gregorian University, Rome (1959).
Rev Eminyan was a professor of dogmatic and ecumenical theology at the University of Malta (1965-93) and director of the Institute of Religious Studies of the UM for several years. He was dean of the faculty of theology (1975-1982) and lectured abroad notably as a visiting professor at Fordham University in New York in 1969.
Among Fr Eminyan’s many contributions to Maltese and international society was the co-founding of the Malta Ecumenical Council. In the 60s Fr Eminyan started theology university courses for lay people, which have continued ever since; he was a member of the council of the Cana Movement from its beginnings. He was Chairman of the Diocesan Mass Media Commission and is also known for his contributions for several years in the weekly religious programme Djalogu on Malta Television.
Prof Eminyan was provincial superior of the Maltese Jesuits (1960-1966), archbishop’s delegate for female religious (1983-89), ecclesiastical consultant of the National Council of Women (1970), and national chaplain of the Rinascita Cristiana Lay Movement (1985). He was also a member of the Theological Commission of the Archdiocese (1982), president of the Ecumenical Commission (1992) and director of the Foundation for Theological Studies (1991-2001).
Fr Eminyan headed the Maltese German Circle and serviced the German Catholic Church, and the Maltese-German Community, which won him, in 1988, the highest tribute the German Government can pay to individuals – The Bundesverdienst Kreuz.
Eminyan attended some 20 international conferences in various countries. He was active in counselling on moral and family problems and took part in radio and TV programmes.
Rev Maurice Eminyan is perhaps best known by most for his prolific writings both of academic theology and of popularised Vatican II theology, publishing no less than 26 books. He is the author of scientific articles in the New Catholic Encyclopaedia (17 vols.), as well as theological articles, chapters, and countless contributions in local and foreign publications. The Sunday Times carried commentaries on the Sunday Gospels by Fr Eminyan every Sunday for many years.
Fr Maurice Eminyan SJ passed away peacefully at Loyola House, Naxxar.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.