Every year since 1964, when Pope Paul VI declared St Benedict a patron of Europe, the Torch of St Benedict has been lit in one of Europe’s major cities. The torch is intended to symbolise the fraternity and peace on the basis of the Gospel and beyond barriers of political, ideological and religious beliefs.
He was one of the most distinguished medieval scholars in Italy and abroad- Fabian Mangion
On March 4 this year, Archbishop Paul Cremona lit the Benedictine Torch Pro Pace et Europa Una during a Eucharistic celebration at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Concelebrating with the Archbishop were Mgr Pietro Vittorelli, Archabbot of Montecassino Abbey, and Mgr Renato Boccardo, Archbishop of Spoleto, Norcia.
The torch was then taken to the Vatican where it was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI. After that, it was taken to Montecassino, the abbey built high on a hill a few hours southeast of Rome – the place where St Benedict finished writing his Rule and where he is buried along with his sister St Scolastica.
The Abbey of Montecassino, founded in 529, is one of the most important monasteries of Christendom. There, monks of the Benedictine Order lived under the rule of St Benedict (c. 480-543), the founder of Western monasticism. In 1944 dire military necessity compelled the Allies, engaged in fighting the Germans in World War II, to bomb and shell it. The monks had no choice but to leave it as bees leave their hive when someone smokes them out of it.
Among the Benedictines who had to abandon the monastery was our countryman, Dom Mauro Inguanez.
Who was Dom Mauro? Francesco Inguanez was born on September 21, 1887, in Senglea, a town to which he remained attached all his life, despite long absences from it. He was the eldest son of Emmanuele Inguanez and Vittoria née Jaccarini. Later that day, he was baptised by Canon Francesco Marengo in the Senglea collegiate church.
Francesco was educated at a private primary school in Senglea and at the Malta Lyceum. Later on he began reading medicine at the Royal University of Malta. In 1906, after obtaining a grant under the Papaffy Fund, he moved to London to pursue his studies. That same year, he announced his decision to join the monastic order of the Benedictines. The encouragement of two young Sengleans – Dom Raffaele Azzopardi and Dom Paolo Cauchi – who were already at Montecassino, may have helped him reach this decision.
On October 14, 1906, when only 19, he entered Montecassino Abbey and studied for the priesthood at the Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo of the Benedictine Fathers in Rome, from where he obtained his degrees in philosophy and theology with great success. On November 11, 1907, he put on the Benedictine habit and when the time for the novitiate was over, on March 19, 1908, he took the religious vows and was given the name of Maurus, after one of the first disciples of the founder of the Benedictine Order. Dom Mauro was ordained in the Abbey’s cathedral on December 28, 1911, aged 24.
Throughout his lifetime, Dom Mauro practised the Benedictine motto Pax, Ora et Labora (Peace, Pray and Work). His duties at the monastery were those of guest-master and archivist-librarian. The fact that he was appointed archivist-librarian just a year after his ordination implies that he must have shown great aptitude for the task, as the library and archives of Montecassino were and are of great importance, rich in classical, medieval and early modern learning.
Dom Mauro learned about bibliography and palaeography at the abbey under the tutorship of Dom Ambrogio Amelli, a former librarian of the great Ambrosiana in Milan. Dom Mauro served as archivist with great enthusiasm for 32 years, from 1912 to 1944.
Amelli was also a scholar of Hebrew and Syrian, so it is not surprising that Dom Mauro too became an expert linguist and also taught Sacred Scripture, Greek and Hebrew at the diocesan seminary of Montecassino. His high intellectual qualities, scientific approach, vast culture and erudition soon established him as one of the most distinguished medieval scholars in Italy and abroad. He was a widely-acclaimed authority on palaeo-graphy, the origin of Church drama and the ecclesiastical history of the medieval era, and wrote numerous books and articles on these subjects.
His principal aim, though, was the compilation of the Codicum Cassinensium Manuscriptorum Catalogus. This monumental work in Latin consisted of three volumes, each divided into two sections, in which he listed the manu-scripts and documents deposited in the abbey. They were patiently compiled and published at regular intervals between 1915 and 1941.
In 1936 Dom Mauro discovered and published an interesting study of a 12th-century Passion play which was of great interest to medievalists and linguists alike. It turned out to be the earliest known Passion play in Italy and was considered by contemporary critics as being of fundamental importance. It was the first defin-ite proof that a number of vulgar Italian words had, even in those very early times, found their way into works written in Latin.
At Montecassino Dom Mauro engulfed himself in palaeographic expertise and the daily performance of his monastic duties, cut off from the world, yet happy in the company of his fellow Benedictines. Such happy monastic fellowship was rudely upset on February 15, 1944, during the final stages of World War II.
Montecassino happened to be on the firing line between the German and Allied armies. This place of prayer and study, which in those exceptional circumstances had become a peaceful shelter for hundreds of defenceless civilians, in only three hours was reduced to a heap of rubble under which many of the refugees met their death. It was a monumental tragedy.
Dom Mauro was very much involved in the drama and tragedy of Montecassino. He was sceptical when the Germans suggested the removal of treasures from the Abbey, and feared they would be stolen. Though he remained suspicious of German intentions, he obeyed superior orders and escorted some of the treasures out of the abbey. Furthermore, acting on his own initiative, he was instrumental in smuggling out of the abbey valuable manuscripts of Keats and Shelley to safety in Rome on October 30, 1943.
In 1946-1947 Dom Mauro went to America where he toured the country, talked about the tragedy that had befallen the monastery and tried to raise funds for its reconstruction in the hope that one day the dispersed brotherhood would return to the fold and resume their normal life dedicated to study and prayer.
The persuasive word and enthusiasm of Dom Mauro were such that in a short time he collected a substantial sum which served for the initial stages of the reconstruction. On his way back from America, he did not rejoin his community, which was striving to rebuild the abbey, but was given permission to come to Malta where he decided to remain due to his deteriorating health.
On June 2, 1947, he was appointed Librarian at the Royal Malta Library, succeeding Sir Hannibal Scicluna. Here he did inestimable work placing together all the library’s manuscripts and reorganising the archives of the Order. He also restored, catalogued and retrieved from oblivion many ancient manuscripts. The collection of printed books classified as Melitensia were shelved in one place.
(Dom Mauro) was instrumental in smuggling out of the abbey valuable manuscripts to safety- Fabian Mangion
In 1954 Dom Mauro was awarded the OBE by Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of his merits for having adjourned and re-catalogued in their correct sequence many of the antique liturgical manuscripts and for the public-ation of a list of the Incunabula – books printed before 1500 – when the art of printing was still in its infancy.
Dom Mauro’s studies were written and published during the two main periods of his life – the first between 1912 and 1934 at Montecassino and the other during his tenure as Librarian in Malta from 1947 to 1955. His publications, amounting to 170 works, consist mainly of in-depth studies related to the history of the abbey and its famous libraries and of several critical editions of early classical manuscript works. Other works deal with the origins of the liturgy and sacred drama and a number of popular Melitensia articles. Wherever Dom Mauro was, he took upon himself the task of collecting documents concerning Malta in general and his native town in particular.
The basilica of Senglea owes its creation to his patriotic insistence. In 1920 he started lobbying the Vatican for the raising of the Senglea parish church to the status of basilica. In record time he managed to obtain a favourable decree, to the joy of the Sengleans.
The precedence which the Senglea Basilica now enjoyed over all other Maltese churches, save the Cathedral, aroused disapproval by many. Even though Archbishop Maurus Caruana (a Benedictine himself) took offence at Dom Mauro’s key role in the matter and wrote disapprovingly to the Abbot at Montecassino, Dom Mauro went on helping behind the scenes and Senglea’s precedence remained firmly established.
After having lived abroad for most of his life studying, teaching, accumulating literary knowledge, perfecting himself in palaeo-graphy, a true son of St Benedict and an illustrious son of Malta, Dom Mauro passed away on October 17, 1955, at St Luke’s Hospital, aged 68.
He died of pulmonary embolism. According to his personal wishes, he was buried with his parents and sister at Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery, clad in his Benedictine habit. A simple epitaph on his tomb reads: Partem Beatae Resurrectionis Mereatur per te Jesu Christe – Dom Mauro Inguanez, O.S.B. natus: 21.9.1887 – obit: 17.10.1955.
Mourning for this erudite Maltese was held all over these islands. At a sitting of the Malta Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1955, speeches were made in his honour by the Minister of Education, a member of the Legislative Assembly and Mr Speaker.
Beyond doubt, Dom Mauro is greatly esteemed by those who frequent the National Library of Malta to consult and study his works, a living monument to this truly famed scholar who has honoured Malta and Senglea in no uncertain terms.