Parish Priest Murdered

On the demise of Rev Pisani, Cleric Johannes Matthaeus Camilleri was successful in obtaining the parish prebend of St Mary and St Helen Churches of Birkirkara. This was granted to him by Apostolic Letters of the 30 October 1543. He is mentioned as Parish Priest of Birkirkara in 1549 and 1550.

Through his negligence, in July 1551, during the Turkish attack on Malta, the parish church of Birkirkara was despoiled of all its liturgical vestments to such an extent that nothing was left that was needed for the administration of the sacraments, not even a simple surplice. On 26 April 1553 the Vicar General ordered the Vice-Parish Priest to provide these vestments at the expense of Rev Camilleri.

On 14 August 1551 Camilleri was imprisoned at the Bishop’s orders. Trouble between him and his Curate, Rev Jacobus Calleja was in the offing and the latter was insisting to be paid for the services he had been rendering. In June of the same year, Rev Camilleri was at loggerheads with the Parish Priest of Qormi insisting that the latter had by-passed his jurisdiction powers by saying mass and singing vespers at St Elmo’s church without his permission.

In 1552 the local ecclesiastical authorities took drastic measures against him because he had been denounced of leading dissolute life involving concubinage, incest and rape. At first the local Curia was rather lenient towards him hoping that he would amend his way of life. However on the 26 March of that year he was sentenced to have his own residence as prison under penalty of twenty uncias, if he dared leave it. On 12 April he seems to have been involved in business to such an extent as to appropriate himself of other people’s belongings. He was once again condemned to the same kind of imprisonment inflicted on him a month earlier.

In order to secure the pastoral care of the Birkirkara parishioners, the local ecclesiastical authorities, on 3 August, insisted with him to provide a priest, at his own expense, who was to care for the pastoral needs of his flock. Camilleri disregarded this order, and the Vicar General informed him that if he continued to obstruct the said orders, the Curia official would determine the remuneration that had to be given to the priest. Rev Camilleri was then still detained in prison. On 16 December of that year he was still in prison but he was granted a concession, already conceded to him in May, and was thereby allowed to return to his parish.

The year 1553 Rev Camilleri seemed to start taking some interest in his parish, and during that year he commissioned Signor Joanni di Arena to make a bell for his parish church. In 1554 Camilleri and his father, who was his procurator stated that the parish of Birkirkara had been handed to Rev Leonardus Micallef.

In 1555 Johannes Matthaeus Camilleri faced serious accusations against him before the Bishop’s Tribunal. Chief among these were those of his Curate, Jacobus Calleja since he was very reluctant to pay him the salary due to him. Other serious reports against him reached to the Vicar General from various quarters. His situation in Birkirkara was going from bad to worse. But a more serious situation was looming ahead.

On 15 August 1557, feast of the Assumption which was the titular feast of Birkirkara’s parish church at that time,  Rev Johannes Matthaeus was murdered and his dead body was thrown in a well just outside the parish church.

Rev Camilleri had a son, namely Ascanio, who as already stated earlier, in 1557 tried to vindicate his father’s death accusing Rev Jacobus Calleja as the perpetrator of that hideous crime.  However, though he formulated this accusation in front of the Inquisitor’s Tribunal, no steps whatsoever were taken against Rev Calleja who was then the Parish Priest of Siġġiewi.

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