Remembering Bro. Vincent Farrugia, FSC on the 25th anniversary of his death

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Brother Vincent Farrugia, FSC, a devoted De La Salle brother whose life testified to unwavering faith, educational excellence and compassionate service. Brother Vincent’s life was richly lived – rooted in Gospel values, marked by tireless dedication to the mission of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and shaped by a profound commitment to the spiritual and intellectual formation of youth.

Born in Żurrieq on February 7, 1926 – just over a hundred years ago – Vincent was brought up by deeply religious parents. His father, Carmel, was a diver at the Dockyard. His mother, Maria, was strongly attached to village traditions and had a great devotion towards Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Maria ensured that her children – Norbert, Vincent and Catherine – assimilated the correct Christian values that they saw exemplified in her own daily life. Despite living at a time when the level of literacy was low, especially in remote villages, she had her own small library, so Vincent and his siblings grew up loving books and enjoying reading.

Bro. Vincent (standing, right) with his father Carmel and mother Maria, and siblings Bro. Norbert (left) and Catherine.

A quiet and reserved child, Vincent liked to help his father in the garden. He preferred to stay home or attend classes organised by the lay catechists of the Society of Christian Doctrine (MUSEUM) rather than participate in noisy playful activities with other boys. Being good at drawing and seeking to improve his artistic talent, he enrolled in art courses at the School of Art in Valletta.

Vincent as a student at De La Salle College, Cospicua.

Manual skills predisposed him to contemplate finding a job at the Dockyard, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. At that time, being employed in the Dockyard meant job security. Since the Royal Navy had its Mediterranean base in Malta, ship repairs and refurbishing were indispensable, offering continuous lucrative employment for thousands of workers.

After attending primary school in Żurrieq, 12-year-old Vincent was admitted to De La Salle College, Cospicua, whence youths sought entrance to the Dockyard through a highly competitive apprentices’ examination. At the start of World War II, he successfully passed the prospective apprentices’ examination and joined the Dockyard as an apprentice shipwright where he spent seven years.

In those days, air raid alarms and bombings were a daily occurrence and people often spent long hours, sometimes days, in shelters. Vincent liked to watch the German and Italian bomber formations from some vantage point. He consequently developed considerable acumen that helped him to distinguish rapidly which planes were British and which Italian or German by the typical drone of their engines. He watched aerial dogfights when possible, sometimes at some personal risk; he would even visit, with his friends, sites where planes had been shot down, bombs had exploded or pilots had landed by parachute.

Vincent as a postulant.

It was during his stay at De La Salle College that he felt the first urgings to follow the brothers’ vocation. In those days, Bro. Walter Joseph Coster FSC, the brother recruiter, used to visit the students’ classrooms to deliver lectures about the Institute and the consecrated life of a brother. Vincent seemed to possess the prerequisites of a Lasallian vocation.

In April 1946, together with Emmanuel Sciberras (later Bro. Emmanuel) and Oscar Mifsud (later Bro. Oscar), Vincent, then aged 20, left for the UK and started his religious formation, first at Balcombe, in Sussex, and later at Assington Hall, in Suffolk. He received the habit on July 16, 1946, and chose to dedicate his life to the education of children and youths, inducing them closer to God.

After his academic training, he taught for two years (1949-1951) in Ipswich with Bro. Dennis Victor as director headmaster.

Bro. Vincent with his class in Ipswich, UK.

Bro. Vincent returned to Malta in 1951 and, in 1952, made his final profession during the annual retreat at Stella Maris College. At De La Salle College, first in the Dockyard classes and later, in the secondary classes, he easily mastered the Dockyard syllabus that comprised English, arithmetic, geography and general knowledge, to which the brothers added religion.

Vincent taught mathematics and telecommunications, preparing 15- to 16-year-old youngsters for the City and Guilds Examination. When the Dockyard classes were withdrawn, he taught mathematics in various classes, mainly in Form II. His meticulously prepared lessons were imparted with clarity and skill.

His meticulously prepared lessons were imparted with clarity and skill

In the post-war period, the brothers’ Cottonera community had to fight for survival. Of the building originally contemplated by the pioneers, only one wing of the college had been completed. It stood on a large stretch of deserted land where carob trees, prickly pear plants, wild vegetation and lizards thrived.

But thanks to the brothers’ efforts, particularly to Bro. Henry, it was eventually turned into a verdant oasis and a splendid educational complex. To provide electricity, which was still inexistent then, the brothers used a powerful generator that the brethren, who like Vincent were then in their prime, took turns to keep going.

As workmen excavated the ground to prepare it for the foundations, boulders were carted away, while hundreds of trucks brought material for the foundations and good soil to spread over the large area where fruit trees, mostly of the citrus, olives, as well as ornamental ones, were to be planted.

Meanwhile, the hectic building of classrooms, the brothers’ quarters and modest recreational facilities – in all of which Vincent was involved – continued unabated.

The brothers led a spartan life in those days; yet they enjoyed working as a team, knowing that in the not-too-distant future, hundreds of youngsters would find at De la Salle College educational facilities they and their families would be proud of.

Brother Vincent Farrugia, FSC

In the 1950s, the college playing fields and sports facilities were very limited, not to say inexistent. That notwithstanding, the college never missed holding its annual sports day. Bro. Vincent trained participants in the formation of human pyramids, slow bicycle races and other events that kept the spectators enthralled. He gave his enthusiastic support for the Yellows, the football team of the De Rohan House that he coached.

When Bro. Henry translated a number of liturgical hymns into Maltese and Mgr Karm Scerri set them to music, Bro. Vincent designed the appropriate cover for the booklet of the hymns. At about the same time, Bro. Michael collected other hymns, and again it was Bro. Vincent who produced the cover.

Failing eyesight precluded him from presiding over prayers in the chapel. After a throat operation and following cardiac problems, he gradually withdrew within himself and spent most of his time in the orange grove that he took over from Bro. Francis after the latter’s death in 1987. For him, that was a good way to render service to the community.

Often, after their day’s work, the brothers found on the dining room table a jug full of refreshing orange juice. At other times, grapes, bananas and other fruits were offered at meals in due season. They all came from his garden. Indeed, Bro. Vincent liked to give oranges to members of the staff, and his favourite topic of conversation was, of course, the dear orchard where, in the company of his dog Brownie, he sought the quiet and peace he longed for.

The community in 1978. (Seated, from left): S Gatt, F Muscat, D Rosso, Superior General J Pablo Basterrechea, E Chircop, M Borg and H Grech. (Standing, from left): M Borg, J Calleja, V Farrugia, C Buhagiar, E Galea, P Attard Portughes, T Bilocca, J Scerri

After he had stopped teaching in 1981, Bro. Vincent helped in the collection of parents’ donations. He did this before school started, standing in the yard where all could see him. He could thus meet students and relate with them.

Bro. Vincent was reserved by nature, revealing little of his character. Gentle and patient, he was never heard to complain about anybody and was ready to listen and apologise when necessary.

March 8, 2001, 25 years ago, what looked like the dawn of a normal working day, for all at De La Salle College came to be a sad day that deprived us of the company of Bro. Vincent whom we had grown to love and esteem.

After morning prayers, he joined the community in the dining room for breakfast. Shortly after, Bro. Vincent made his way to the orange grove where he normally planned the day’s work and busied himself doing odd jobs, pruning trees and watering plants. On his way along the drive, he wobbled and collapsed.

Passers-by, among them several Sixth Formers, rushed to give him first aid. They lifted him and spoke to him because he was still conscious. In a whisper, he asked for his glasses. Those were to be his last words.

Bro. Vincent’s body was taken to the brothers’ residence and laid out in the parlour. As was expected, his sudden death shocked his family and friends in Żurrieq, the brothers’ communities, the teaching and domestic staff and the students.

Bro. Vincent’s funeral mass at the De La Salle College gym.

The following day, an impressive and perfectly organised funeral was held at De La Salle College, his alma mater and the field of his apostolate. The whole school had thus the opportunity to pay their last respects to this humble brother.

Bro. Vincent was a hardworking man, faithful, religious, steadfast in his vocation. May his simplicity, his evangelical poverty, his dedication to the Christian upbringing of youth and his spirit of prayer serve as a means of intercession with God to provide for the institute generous young men willing to follow in the steps of St La Salle, the apostle of youth and patron of teachers.

Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the use of biographical notes written by Bro. James Calleja, FSC and thanks Doris Blackman for her assistance.