Fr Peter Serracino Inglott (1936-2012) once said that Bishop Emmanuel Galea “was too intelligent not to be aware that he was singularly intelligent as everybody else who came into contact with him soon realised”.

Fr Peter added: “By nature, he was an intellectual leader. It is a measure of his ability to adapt himself to the context in which he found himself placed by Providence that he became known to almost everybody as the most practical of men… Bishop Galea, who was a conservative by temperament and an accurate enforcer of canon law, was able to preserve his pleasant and gentle style in the most difficult of circumstances.”

Bishop Galea was positively a down-to-earth, sensible and gracious pastor.

One particular example in this regard is the account of how he dealt with a particularly delicate case of an English Protestant young woman who, when he was vicar general and auxiliary bishop, was about to get married to a Maltese Catholic young man.

The Maltese Curia’s instruction of the time was that a non-Catholic party had to promise that the children born of the marriage would be baptised and brought up in the Catholic Church.

Fr Philip Calleja (later monsignor) who was then in charge of the Marriage Office of the Curia, which used to be housed at the Archbishop’s Palace, in Valletta made sure that the couple understood everything and that the young woman had all her papers in order before accompanying them to Bishop Galea for the mandatory oath by the non-Catholic party.

Bishop Emmanuel Galea blessing the crowd in the 1940s-1950s.

When the couple entered his office, Mgr Galea got up to prepare the Crucifix and the Bible for the oath and gave the young woman the promise-formula to take the oath in his presence.

The girl took the paper in her hands to read, in front of the bishop, her sworn commitment to baptise and bring up the children of her marriage in the Catholic Church. However, it became clear to all present that she was finding it very difficult to proceed with reading the oath. Indeed, all of a sudden, her eyes were full of tears and some teardrops fell on the paper she was holding in her hands.

As soon as he saw this, Bishop Galea asked her to stop reading. He gently invited her to tell him what had happened. The young woman, crying, said to him: “My father is the organist of the cathedral. I was brought up in the Anglican Church. If my father and my family were to hear what I am promising, I don’t think they would want to see me again.”

Bishop Galea solicited her to sit down. As soon as she was able to bring herself together, he invited her and her future husband to wait a bit outside. He then instructed Fr Philip to proceed with issuing the marriage papers.

The incident worried Mgr Galea to the extent that he asked to be left alone in his office for the remainder of his working day.

Soon after, the substance of the oath a non-Catholic partner used to be required to take before the marriage was changed. According to the new formula, the Catholic party had to promise that they will do their utmost to baptise and raise the children born to the marriage in the Catholic Church. The non-Catholic party was just required to state that they know about the promise made by the Catholic party and about the obligations they had in this context.

Of course, Mgr Galea could not have decided on his own to change the norm, for such a move needed the approval of Archbishop Michael Gonzi. Nonetheless, it was quite clear who was behind the drastic much-welcomed change.

It was common practice at the Curia that whenever there was an important action to be taken, it was never decided upon before the auxiliary bishop was consulted.

In Fr Peter’s words: “He would bring a fresh, cool and prudent perspective to bear on the issue. In his quiet voice there generally seemed to echo a curious combination of the urgings of the spirit and the orderly tones of an ecclesial disciplinarian. The result was an amalgam of rigid orthodoxy, such as was given undiluted expression in the single intervention that I heard him make at the Second Vatican Council, where I was serving in the secretariat, together with the extreme kindness, and indeed lovingness, with which he dealt with anyone (including myself) who went to him for advice about how best to repair any error of whatever sort that one had committed.”

Early life and death

Emmanuel Galea was born in Senglea on March 10, 1891. He proceeded to the priesthood hand in hand with his brother, Francesco. They were ordained priests on December 18, 1915.

In 1933, he was appointed director of the Jesus of Nazareth Institute, in Żejtun. The institute was founded by Giuseppina Curmi with the aim of taking care of the orphans she had gathered together, initially in her large family house in Żejtun. Giuseppina was a pious woman born in Valletta to Dr Paolo Curmi and his wife, Francesca who, in 1865, took the family to Żejtun, where, in 1880, the father became mayor. Paolo died in 1890.

The Jesus of Nazareth Institute became an essential part of Mgr Galea’s life until his death 41 years later.

Mgr Galea became vicar general in 1940. Two years later, he became auxiliary bishop to Archbishop Mauro Caruana. When Archbishop Gonzi succeeded Mgr Caruana, he confirmed Mgr Galea in his positions both as vicar general and as auxiliary bishop.

Mgr Galea, also known as a humble man of prayer and charity, died on August 21, 1974. His funeral mass at the Co-Cathedral, Valletta was presided by Archbishop Gonzi. The funeral then proceeded to Żejtun, where a large crowd of people welcomed him and accompanied him to the parish’s cemetery for burial.

On November 5, 1990, his remains were transferred to a marble monument erected in his memory in the chapel of the Jesus of Nazareth Institute, where, for many years, he served God and the people of God as a holy and very understanding assiduous confessor.

His beatification process was initiated on June 24, 2003, by Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.

From left: Bishops Emmanuel Galea, Michael Gonzi and Joseph Mercieca in 1974.

Senglea pays tribute

The community of Senglea, together with the Missionary Sisters of Jesus of Nazareth, will commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Bishop Emmanuel Galea – who was born in Senglea – with mass at the Senglea Basilica on Wednesday, August 21, at 6pm.

His co-citizens remember him first and foremost for his saintly life. His memory is also cherished thanks to his contributions in many fields. He had consecrated the new altars after the rebuilding of the basilica, he paid for the painting of Our Lady of the Rosary by Emvin Cremona and also donated a chalice to his parish. He is probably best remembered for having composed the lyrics of the beloved hymn O Marija, O Ħelwa Bambina in 1934.

The parish is also hosting an exhibition with the help of the Missionary Sisters of Jesus of Nazareth, the Diocesan Archive and the Metropolitan Archive of Mdina. This exhibition showcases several of Bishop Galea’s writings, personal items and interesting details related to his life.