Christmas 2009 – Joseph De Piro’s incarnationality

“They shall name him Emmanuel: God with us”
J. De Piro’s love for the materially poor and those lacking evangelisation: One way of God being with us.

If one were to go through the life and activity of Joseph De Piro one would find out that the Servant of God gave to the Maltese society in general and the universal and local Church, many and many contributions. Some of these were minor services, which committed the Servant of God only for a short while and consumed very little of his mental and physical energies. As regards other responsibilities De Piro dedicated a lot more time and energy. In the latter group of ministries there were then two which dominated all the others: (1) his love towards the underprivileged of any sort, and (2) his love for evangelisation, starting with “the evangelisation to the faithful” in Malta, continuing with the “reevangelisation” or “second evangelisation” or “new evangelisation” of the Maltese abroad, and his efforts at “first evangelisation” or the ad gentes missions.

These two major contributions of Monsignor are so important because:
(a) They occupied most of his time.

Many of his other activities, such as his membership in many ecclesiastical and civil committees, implied only short periods of time. On the contrary, the Servant of God dedicated most of his time and energy for the underprivileged, especially in the Church’s institutions, and in favour of evangelisation, especially through the foundation and strengthening of his Missionary Society.

(b) While he carried on other duties he continued with the charitable activities and his evangelisation.

(c) In almost all his contributions, there were always reflected in them his love for the underprivileged and/or for evangelisation.

Here are some examples:
• The Servant of God strongly objected to his being made canon of the Metropolitan Cathedral. The main reason was that he wanted to live the simple life of the poor and the needy.
• Mgr De Piro was director of St Joseph’s Institute, Santa Venera, St Joseph Institute, Gozo, the Home for Babies-Santa Venera and St Francis de Paul, B’Kara. All these were for the poor and orphaned boys and girls of those days.
• The Servant of God was nominated director of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Laboratory, a workshop where girls who had left the charitable institutes could learn a trade and get some money . Another charitable initiative.
• Monsignor was made Senator in the Third Maltese Parliament (1932-1933). Here he intervened only twice: the first time when he was asked to express his opinion about inheritances in favour of charitable institutes; the second regarded in a special way the young girls who had just left some one of the ecclesiastical charitable institutes and who had no family where to go to.
• De Piro accepted St Dominic Savio Oratory, B’Kara, and became its director on condition that it continued to cater for the formation of the children of the common people.
• During the years of the First World War, Monsignor was asked to give his share by being the secretary of the Committee Fondo Vescovile per pane ai poveri durante la Guerra (1914-1918). This was obviously a charitable organisation!
• The Servant of God cooperated with the Dame di Carità whose aim was “… to help the cases of poverty …” Therefore a charitable initiative again.
• De Piro made part of the National Assembly (1918-1921). All along these years he lived his love for his fellow Maltese by the formulation of a draft constitution for Malta, a one which enabled the Maltese to have self government, something lacking until 1921. Quite clearly another type of need!
• Monsignor intervened in the 7, 8, and 9th June 1919 riots. He did not enter in the long history of conflicts between the British and the Maltese, but only at the moment when injustice was being inflicted on the poor people.
• He was a member of the Governing Board of the Malta War Memorial Hospital for Children. Quite obviously charitable!
• In between 1918-1920 De Piro was Rector of the Major Seminary at Mdina, Malta. During these two years the Servant of God practiced a lot of charity towards the seminarians who could not pay their fees. He improved the material aspect of the Seminary life. He practiced justice with teachers.
• In between 1904-1907, Fr Joseph De Piro was at Qrendi, Malta for health reasons. According to a priest-witness, the Servant of God evangelised to the Qrendi priests and to those of the nearby parishes by helping in their ongoing formation which they needed so much.
• Especially because he was canon of the Metropolitan Cathedral, De Piro was frequently invited for liturgical and paraliturgical celebrations in the various Maltese parishes. On these occasions he gave a lot of importance to preaching: he thoroughly prepared the sermons or meditations - he even wrote the whole sermon; he made it a point that he really communicated with the listeners - in the written text which was generally in Italian, he chose from beforehand the right Maltese words and put them in brackets in the written sermon so that when preaching he would use the right Maltese word.
• At a time when the teaching of religion, both for children and grown ups was a lot lacking, the Servant of God went himself regularly and on foot from Mdina to Mtarfa, Malta to teach catechism to the poor children of that area. He opened the small first house of the Society so that his catechist brothers could teach religion to the Mdina and Rabat boys. In the charitable institutes where he was director, Monsignor himself inspected the catechism classes of these sae institutes and he himself examined the boys and girls before their first holy communion and confirmation.
• In between 1915-1918 De Piro very faithfully carried out all his responsibilities as secretary to Archbishop Mauro Caruana. At this same time he gave special attention to the demands of the Maltese migrants in great need of priests and religious who could help them live their faith.
• In 1927 the Servant of God started the first ad gentes mission of his Society;
he sent Br Joseph Caruana to Ethiopia.
• De Piro became director of the Missionary Museum and the Missionary Laboratory, two initiatives with which to support the Ethiopia mission.
• De Piro was the originator, author and publisher of the “Saint Paul: Almanac of the Institute of the Missions”. This was quite obviously nothing but a missionary publication.
• In the speech, on the occasion of the blessing of the foundation stone of the Society’s Motherhouse, St Agatha’s, Rabat, Malta, the Founder referred to the scope of this House; it was to serve as a home for the formation of missionaries.
• De Piro was very close to the Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus. In fact their foundress, Madre Margerita De Brincat called him “superior general and father.” The assistance he gave these nuns was not so much because they were religious, but rather because they were at Fra Diegu Institute, an ecclesiastical charitable institute. Also in the “Saint Paul; Almanac of the Institute of the Missions” the Servant of God used to write short information about these nuns; he wanted to promote the missionary activity these nuns were doing in Ethiopia.
• Monsignor helped Guzeppina Curmi and her companions to found the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Jesus of Nazareth, but he did this in view of their main aim: the Jesus of Nazareth Orphanage. Also, he helped the Sisters introduce the missionary spirit in their constitutions.
• He aided the Daughters of the Sacred Heart to set up and strengthen their religious Congregation. The help he gave them was already a charity in itself. Then they were founded to help in the education of the children of the poor.
•
(d) When De Piro thought of the poor he thought at that same time of evangelisation, and vice versa:
• When the Servant of God planned to go to St Joseph’s Orphanage, Malta, he also thought that from that Home there would come out a missionary Society.
• In several of the drafts of the original constitutions of his missionary Society he mentioned the casa di beneficenza as one of its main works. In two of the charitable institutes, St Joseph’s-Malta, and St Joseph’s-Gozo, he did in fact introduce the members of his missionary Society to take care of the children.
• He continuously respected the main aim of the B’Kara Oratory: the care of poor children. At the same time there he started the aspirandate for the prospective members of his missionary Society.
• While dedicating himself for St Joseph’s Institute-Malta, there he initiated the novitiate for the Brothers of his Society.

Like St Paul Joseph De Piro could have said that he has become all things to all.
 

Fr Tony Scibberas mssp