Bishop of Malta

Aloysius was born in Floriana, the son of Enrico Caruana and Elizabeth née Bonavia. He studied at the Gozo Seminary, St Ignatius College, St Julians, and Fort Augustus Abbey school, Scotland, where he eventually became captain of the school.

Caruana joined the St Benedict’s abbey, Fort Augustus, belonging to the English Benedictine congregation, and was enrolled on 20 September 1884, taking the name of Maurus. He made his profession on 11 November 1885 and was ordained priest in 1891 by Bishop Hugh Macdonald. He continued his ecclesiastical studies at the Benedictine college of San Anselmo in Rome, studying canon law.

Back at Fort Augustus, Caruana taught philosophy, theology, and Latin literature, and served twice as parish priest and choir master, promoting Gregorian chant. A very well-known preacher in Scotland, he was very much requested for preaching in Italian. In 1912 he was appointed choirmaster. Under his direction the rendering of the Gregorian chant reached a very high standard at the abbey.

Following the death of Bishop Pietro Pace, Caruana was appointed bishop of Malta in 1915. The solemn consecration on 10 February was conducted by Cardinal Raffael Merry del Val at the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. On that occasion he was appointed knight grand cross of the Sovereign Military Order of St John. Caruana arrived in Malta three days later and on 19 April, he solemnly entered Mdina and was invested in the cathedral.

Caruana was intellectually very able and fluent in Maltese, English, Italian, and Gaelic. In spite of his diocesan commitments he always found time to give conferences on the rule of St Benedict to the cloistered Benedictine nuns of St Peter in Mdina.

In 1917 Caruana unveiled and blessed the monument of Christ the King at Floriana which commemorates the XXIV International Eucharistic Congress held in Malta in April 1913. When, in 1928, the Holy See restored the residential archdiocese of Rhodes, the bishops of Malta could no longer be, as they had been since 1797, simultaneously titular archbishops of Rhodes, but Caruana was allowed to retain the personal title of archbishop.

Caruana’s episcopate was characterised by the politico-religious crisis of the 1920s and 1930s; on the background of these events, the Catholic newspaper Leħen is-Sewwa started publication (1928). During his time, the first diocesan regional council was held in Malta in June 1935, presided over by Cardinal Alexis Lepicier. Caruana approved the setting up of the Congregation of St Paul (1921) and that of the Missionary Sisters of Jesus of Nazareth (1934). On his initiative was built the church of St Gregory in Sliema (1923). To mark the XV centenary of the Council of Ephesus, he crowned the old icon of the Madonna of Damascus (1931).

Caruana was the first Maltese to be created knight commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918, shortly after the Order had been instituted by George V. He was also received by George VI during the latter’s 20-hour visit to Malta in June 1943. He died after a long illness and was buried in St Gregory’s parish church, Sliema. Caruana was not only the first Maltese Benedictine monk, but also the first Benedictine to become bishop of Malta since 1511.

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