Thank you from Chile

I would like to thank most heartily all the benefactors of Mission Fund. Lately, I was sent a very generous donation which will go towards funding our pastoral and social work at the parish of Chañaral, a city in the north of Chile. 

The COVID-19 pandemic hit us very hard and made the situation of the poor even more desperate.

All the normal activities of the parish, like Mass and catechism classes, are suspended. However, we are allowed to distribute hot lunches to the elderly every day and food hampers to the needy. We try to make life a little easier and give moral support in this very difficult situation.

The benefactors of the Mission Fund from Malta have helped us in this mission.  Thank you very much! May the Lord return abundantly your generosity. 

May I take this opportunity to ask readers to donate to the Mission Fund by sending used stamps or by direct bank transfers. The following bank accounts may be used: BOV: 163 007 980 22; APS: 200 008 207 62; BNF: 000 879 631 01. For more information, please consult: www.missionfund.org.mt.  God bless you all.

Fr Henry Balzan – Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Chañaral, Chile

E-mail: nuestrasenoradelcarmenchanaral@iglesia.cl

Watering ships in 1798 and Vassalli

A verisimilitude portrait of Mikiel Anton Vassalli by artist Paul Farrugia and the police description in Paris in 1807, as found by the author in 2013 in French archives.

Today, the majority of ships use an evaporator system that uses distillation or reverse osmosis to convert seawater into potable water. Others still obtain freshwater from shore mains or barges.

During the 18th century, sea craft depended on shore cisterns. J. F. Grima writes (June 6) that General Napoleon Bonaparte used an “excuse for the attack” when asking for water for his fleet carrying 54,000 soldiers in June 1798 after sailing from Toulon for three weeks. Grima adds that the Order was “simply adhering to the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht” in refusing more than four vessels into the harbour, thus Bonaparte was putting forward “a blatant lie”.

A year before in Ancona, Bonaparte had intercepted a document wherein the grand master had already agreed with the Tsar of Russia to lease the harbour to the Russian Navy for a yearly fee, consequently losing Malta’s neutrality.

Even if the French general used the request for water to test the grand master, the fact remains that his ships did need water. So much so that,  with the help of military engineer Georges Grognet, the Armée knew where water cisterns were in Malta. St Julian’s still boasts of ‘il-Bjar ta’ Napuljun’ from which no fewer than 27 French vessels got water in 1798.

Another point concerns Mikiel Anton Vassalli (J.F. Grima, June 13). In all probability, Vassalli was not in prison when Bonaparte came to Malta; he could have ‘escaped’ with other fugitives earlier. Certainly, Vassalli did not leave with the French; he was a prisoner of the insurgents and was exiled by the British in 1801.

Moreover, in 2013, I found a French police Permis de Séjour in Paris with the first description of Vassalli as he appeared in 1807. The picture by Ray Pitré, carried in Grima’s feature, is the fruit of fantasy. Readers may appreciate the verisimilitude of Vassalli by Paul Farrugia (photo) and latest research in Fuq il-Passi ta’ Vassalli (Klabb Kotba Maltin and Akkademja tal-Malti, 2019).

Charles Xuereb – Sliema

Destroying our environment

What is happening all around us is a massacre of our environment, perpetrated by ruthless and thoroughly unpatriotic developers who only care about money.

They are brazenly encouraged and given a freehand to do what they like by the government and tacitly supported by the country’s opposition, both of whom were elected to seek the common good not their party’s. When will they muster the courage to stop this madness?  

When will our politicians disengage themselves from developers and stop being beholden to them for financial support? This is not only shameful and nationally self-destructive but also life- threatening for all of us as we continue to make our way through mazes of unsightly concrete blocks of endless flats and building complexes  and drown in perpetual dust and noise.

Now even Gozo is being slowly destroyed and, very soon it will not be worth going there for a break for Maltese and foreigners alike as it will become a claustrophobic extension of Malta.

The Planning Authority CEO,  too, sees nothing wrong in all this. Well, the large majority of Maltese surely beg to differ! With all due respect, with all his arguments which sent shivers down my spine when I read them, this CEO sounds like the developers’ dream, their facilitator working against us and, ultimately, being paid by us to boot. He is in the wrong place and not fit for purpose.

Malta needs a peaceful revolution to save our country now! We need to support the NGOs that are doing everything possible to fight back as politicians and institutions that should be protecting us are working against us. We have to do something!

Carmel Zammit – Naxxar

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