Pro Tridentina (Malta)

For the promotion and dissemination of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in the Archdiocese of Malta and the Diocese of Gozo, as endorsed by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI (2007) and in the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae (2011). We adhere to the traditional Catholic motto: We are what you once were. We believe what you once believed. We worship as you once worshipped. If you were right then, we are right now. If we are wrong now, you were wrong then.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Malta's First Cardinal

The first Maltese Cardinal - Fabrizio Sceberras Testaferrata (1757-1843) - was born in Valletta. He was Titular Archbishop of Berytus (1802), Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland (1803) and Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars (1815).

Sceberras Testaferrata was created Cardinal in pectore in 1816 and elevated to Cardinal-Priest of St. Pudenziana two years later. Subsequently he was Bishop of Senigallia until his death.

The first conclave at which Cardinal Sceberras Testaferrrata took part was that of September 1823, which elected Pope Leo XII as Supreme Pontiff. This was followed by the conclave of March 1829 which elected Pope Pius VIII. The Maltese cardinal's last conclave, which elected Pope Gregory XVI, was also his longest, (December 1830 - February 1831).

By this time, Cardinal Sceberras Testaferrata was among the most senior in the College of Cardinals. He was never absent from a conclave.

2 comments:

Oleg-MichaelTuesday, 31 January, 2012
Well! We Russians had our first Cardinal much earlier, in 1439. Born in Greece, he wasn't ethnically Russian, but he was the Metropolitan of Kiev (with residence in Moscow at that time), an active proponent of the Holy Union at the Council of Florence. Here's more about him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidore_of_Kiev
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