Exactly a hundred years ago Malta mourned the death of one of its most esteemed sons: Professor Napoleone Tagliaferro, ISO, for several years director of education and rector of the University of Malta, whose entire career spanning over half a century had been connected with the department of public instruction.
Tagliaferro died a lingering death; during his final illness he was visited by many friends and colleagues and yet when the end came the nation seemed stunned by the demise of a humble patriot who revelled in Malta’s distant past.
Tagliaferro was born in Vittoriosa on August 19, 1843, to poor and modest parents. He was the only boy among four sibling sisters. His father, a maritime captain, descended from a long line of Ligurian mariners, struggled to make ends meet and the family grew up in straightened circumstances. When still an adolescent Tagliaferro’s father died and the young man vowed to take his father’s place as breadwinner of the family. Fortunately the young Tagliaferro was endowed with an acute intellect.
Christened Francesco Napoleone Tagliaferro, he displayed a precocious mind, and one of his early teachers, recognising his gifts, decided it was more fitting to call him by his second name. His teacher was perceptive: on December 16, 1858, aged just 15, Tagliaferro was appointed assistant teacher of arithmetic and mathematics at the Lyceum. This was, in effect his date of entry into the civil service and public employment that was to benefit Malta enormously.
The government further recognised Tagliaferro’s talents by sending him, from 1860 to 1863, to attend courses at the École Polytechnique in Paris; this institution was founded in 1794 specifically to train engineers and scientists for military and civil service, and by 1848 had become the most prestigious of France’s grandes écoles.
His experiences in Paris must have encouraged his interest and laid solid foundations for his later work in mathematics, science, philosophy, cosmology, zoology and archaeology. Music was another peripheral interest. In an article in The Sunday Times of Malta of July 4, 2004, I had written on the possible influences of Tagliaferro’s studies in Paris on his musical interests.
On his return to Malta, Tagliaferro initiated courses in descriptive geometry and applied mathematics, teaching them to great effect. At a young age he was also called upon to fill the chair of physics at the University for one year; it was a task he acquitted with great credit.
From 1880 to 1887, Tagliaferro served as secretary to the University, after which he held the position of assistant director of education until 1897 and rector of the University from 1897 to 1904. He was also a member of the Council of Government (an ex officio position as rector) from 1899 to 1904.
On December 18, 1903, Tagliaferro celebrated his completion of 45 years of public service. At the time he was the doyen of all civil servants in Malta. On September 16, 1905, King Edward VII appointed Tagliaferro a Companion of the Imperial Service Order for his long and meritorious service.
At various times during his career Tagliaferro enjoyed membership of a number of prestigious foreign institutions, among which were the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain; the British School at Rome (honoris causa); the Anthropological Society of Rome and the Société Préhistorique de France. He also held similar positions in Malta: he was a member of the Committee of Antiquaries and founder member and twin president of the Malta Historical and Scientific Society.
Tagliaferro was also a member of the organising committee for the 1913 Eucharistic Congress that was held in Malta. For this service he was awarded the gold cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Pius X.
Tagliaferro married Maria Grech Mifsud, sister of highly respected lawyer Oreste Grech Mifsud. Maria, affectionately known within the family as ‘Marietta’, and Napoleone were a devoted couple. She predeceased Napoleone in 1910 and he missed her sorely. The couple had no children.
Tagliaferro’s death actually occurred on October 3, 1915; however, according to the custom of the times, a solemn memorial service was held 30 days after the death of the deceased. In the intervening period, 30 Gregorian Masses would have been celebrated, by the same priest, on consecutive days, with the intention of procuring the release of the deceased’s soul from Purgatory. The tradition dated back to the time of Pope St Gregory the Great (AD540-604).
Anastasio Cuschieri, the ornament of the Carmelite Order in Malta, delivered the funeral oration. It was a masterpiece of oratory as was to be expected from one of the greatest orators and littérateurs our island has ever produced
The date thus chosen for the memorial Mass was November 4, the location was, appropriately, the church of the University – the Jesuit church at the corner of Merchants’ Street and Archbishop Street in Valletta; the time, 8.30am.
The Daily Malta Chronicle, which excelled in recording contemporary events in great detail, provides an excellent source of information. The November 5 issue of that newspaper devoted many column inches to this solemn event and the following details are taken from that account.
In the middle of the aisle was a large catafalque covered with a black velvet pall, over which were placed the cocked hat and sword of the deceased, the insignia of the Imperial Service Order, and the golden cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice bestowed on the lamented gentleman by his late Holiness Pope Pius X.
Surrounding the catafalque, which was draped with black crepe, were large lighted candles, near which, beside the conventional emblems of death and trappings of mourning, were cypress wreaths, and the coat of arms of the University of Malta and of the Tagliaferro family.
On the interior side of the main door hung the magnificent oil portrait of Prof. Tagliaferro, painted by Prof. Giuseppe Calì, the eminent Maltese artist, which was presented to the deceased on his retirement from the public service in 1904, and which, we may add in passing, has by him been bequeathed to the University.
At the head of a vast congregation were the chief mourners: the Tagliaferro, Grech Mifsud and Formosa families, together with the professors and examiners of the University, headed by the rector; the headmaster and teaching staff of the Lyceum, the director and deputations from the government secondary and elementary schools, a large number of University and Lyceum students, present and retired heads of the departments, and a considerable number of other friends and admirers of the deceased.
The Mass started punctually at 8.30am, the celebrant being the Rt Rev. Mgr Dr G. Formosa, Professor of Dogmatic Theology, assisted by deacons Enrico Bonici and Alberto Pantallaresco, both of the theological course of the University, as were also all the clerics who assisted in the divine service. Contemporaneously with the solemn service, a low Mass de requiem for the repose of the deceased gentleman was said in each of the chapels of the church; and they were all numerously attended. The musical part, which was exceedingly well executed, was conducted by Maestro Caruana.
Shortly after 9am, High Mass being over, the Very Rev. Father Provincial Anastasio Cuschieri, the ornament of the Carmelite Order in Malta, and one of the most brilliant professors of the University, where he graces the chair of philosophy, ascended the pulpit, which was also covered with black damask with white trappings, and delivered the funeral oration.
It was a masterpiece of oratory and literature as was to be expected from one of the greatest orators and littérateurs that our island has ever produced. For well over half an hour, the large, distinguished and representative congregation hung from the lips of the learned professor, as he conjured up the revered figure of Prof. Tagliaferro from the honoured grave wherein he was so recently laid to sleep the sleep of the just. “And for too short a time alas!” the Daily Malta Chronicle reported “that figure lived and moved amongst us once again”.
Cuschieri’s oration was subsequently published in Italian by the Daily Malta Chronicle. The following extracts give an excellent impression of Cuschieri’s oratory style as well as his esteem of his teacher, mentor and friend:
“Gentlemen,
“There are impressions that, once fixed in the mind, can never be cancelled: they live in us, with us, and from time to time, return unhindered to the forefront of our mind. Such, I believe, is the memory of the day when Napoleone Tagliaferro was buried at the Addolorata Cemetery in Marsa, destined to become for me.
“There was around us then a profound silence; the air and the earth shone with a magnificent light. The rough earth being thrown by the grave diggers fell with a crash on the vulnerable coffin; the noise seemed to wake the cypress trees; my entire body shivered and trembled. “Sic transit Gloria mundi” whispered an illustrious citizen standing beside me. I remained silent; but I kept repeating to myself with growing intensity ‘Pie Jesu Domine, dona ei requiem’.
“Noble lineage is a phrase devoid of meaning. One is neither born noble nor ignoble. Nobility is a virtue that is acquired slowly like the learning process, through work, through struggle; it is useful and generous actions, fed by love, carriers of goodwill for our brethren, which distinguish a man and put him a cut above the rest: blood has nothing to do with it. Napoleone Tagliaferro had this kind of nobility. Born at Vittoriosa of poor and modest parents, it did not take him long to realise the two highest ideals of human life: God and country.
“Few loved their place of birth like he did. What he loved about his country were not the fields of abundant wheat, nor the beaches nor our marvellous harbours... He loved all this, gentlemen, but not only this, because the world that he loved with a great intensity was not the one that he could see around him with his own eyes, but rather, it was a nation that was passionate, proud, tumultuous, intrepid and ardent; which travelled the seas with broad bleached sails, fought its battles, then returned victorious and glorious to defend itself, to battle, win, crush, annihilate and force the Turks to flee.
“He loved the heroic times of our nation when every citizen was a soldier, every soldier a civil knight; but besides this, and beyond all this, not unworthy of an epic Virgilian muse, he saw, got to know, and loved another nation; a moaning and oppressed nation under the yoke of the Arabs; yet still glorious, tenacious, magnified through misfortune.
“And how could his heart not beat with the most pure, the most noble emotions, when he thought of this heroic nation, this great and oppressed nation under the great dominion of Rome! But before Rome, before Carthage and the Phoenicians were still unheard of, this heroic nation of the Knights, this great and oppressed nation under the yoke of the Arabs, this free and prosperous nation under the Romans, was already sending signs of civilisation across the mists of time.
“Great and small monuments that are still present today show that she was already manifesting the mighty genius of her race. Wrapped in mist because of the great span of time, buried for the most part in the unexplored depths of our island, this was the nation that Napoleone Tagliaferro liked best. He loved above all else prehistoric and ancient Malta… No, no one loved his country more than he did. He is the most Maltese of the Maltese.
His life deserves greater study and appreciation – what better challenge for one our bright young minds to accomplish?
“When, after completing my studies, I returned from Rome in 1900, Napoleone Tagliaferro had already been director of education for three years, presiding over meetings in the Tapestry Chamber. Politically, these were not happy times; the harsh debates about the Constitution and the language were in full swing. In that bleak atmosphere few could appreciate the beneficial work being carried out by the director of education for the good of the population, of youth, and of the nation.
“Many were against him. This hurt him intimately, immensely. He confessed to me one evening: ‘Those were the hardest years of my life’… The bitter debates typical of political meetings were not in his nature; so he was uncomfortable during these meetings; neither could he efficiently sustain the vigorous attacks of his assertive adversaries.
“It is this virtue which was such a big part of the man that I mourn;… it dedicated itself completely to the happiness of a woman, a miracle of gentleness and courtesy, whose kindness, an immense kindness typical of her lineage, showed through the nobility of her character and actions; compassionate of face, soft in her speech, so soft, mellifluous and forgiving. Maria Grech Mifsud perfumed the heart of Napoleone Tagliaferro, made him stand tall and true, and I would even say made him a better Christian, instilling in him, with a wonderful and saintly grace, new feelings of gentle love and goodness…
“But, oh dear, God took this gentle creature away from him too soon. Took her away? No, Maria Grech Mifsud never left Napoleone Tagliaferro; she lived in him, with him; she lived in his dreams, in his heart beats, his prayers, in his words, in his feelings, in his pure thoughts; so much so, that the last word uttered by Napoleone Tagliaferro was, in fact, that saintly and adorable name, ‘Marietta’. Thrice, at short intervals, he repeated her name, and thrice times a smile touched his lips, lighting up his face.
“But the end came too quickly and unexpectedly, and when on the third of October at three in the afternoon I was called by his family to do my duty as a priest and friend, he was already unconscious, with his head abandoned mortally on the pillow, his eyes tightly shut, his mouth half-open, his arms and his face pale. Periodically he uttered a brief cry, then he was silent: he looked as though he were sleeping peacefully.
“I realised, however, that life was quickly ebbing from that body. A priest came and performed extreme unction; then his sisters knelt down, praying and crying. But the agony dragged on. At eleven, his pulse, which up to then was beating at an incredible rate, slowed down; his face and his arms changed colour, he grew pale; his lamenting weakened, then he went silent, and one could clearly hear the weak breathing of a dying man. In the deep silence of the night, the clock of St John’s struck half past eleven; leaning his head lightly on the soft pillow Napoleone Tagliaferro gave up his spirit to God.
“Let me conclude this oration prostrated in front of God who sees me and hears me, by praying for my sweet and unforgettable friend: Pie Jesu Domine, You who knows how hard my friend worked for the benefit of the young and the nation with Your help; You, who knows us so intimately, can see with what sincerity he embraced Your faith up to his last breath, give to him eternal rest: dona ei requiem. Amen.”
Cuschieri’s words are an enlightening evocation of a person who embodied integrity and humility and yet rose to the top of his profession. Tagliaferro was a son of Malta recognised abroad for his achievements. He deserves an honoured place in our national pantheon. Yet for all the accolades he garnered his life deserves greater study and appreciation – what better challenge for one our bright young minds to accomplish?
The author is grateful to Prof. Anthony Aquilina of the University of Malta for his translation of Prof. Cuschieri’s oration.