Michael Franciscus Buttigieg (3 November 1793 – 12 July 1866) was a Maltese prelate who became the first Bishop of Gozo in 1864. Buttigieg was born on November 3, 1793, in Qala,

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and baptized in St Peter and St Paul parish church of Nadur (Qala was at the time part of the Nadur parish). He was ordained priest on December 21, 1816. Some years later, in 1863, he was appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Malta. He was consecrated by Cardinal

Niccola Paracciani Clarelli Niccola Paracciani Clarelli (12 April 1799 – 7 July 1872) was a Catholic Cardinal and was Arch-Priest of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. He was also Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops a ...

on May 3, 1863, in the church of Santissima Trinità Montecitorio in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Buttigieg was assigned the titular see of Lete. A year later, in 1864, Pope

Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

created the

Diocese of Gozo The Diocese of Gozo (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Malta, and the only suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Malta, together covering the insular state. The diocese comprises the island of ...

and Buttigieg was appointed as its first bishop. He took charge of the diocese on October 23, 1864. Two years later Bishop Buttigieg died in

Victoria, Gozo Victoria (, meaning "the city Victoria"), also known among the native Maltese as Rabat (which is the name of the old town centre) or by its title Città Victoria, is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit of Malta, and the main town o ...

on July 12, 1866, at the age of 72. He is buried in the Cathedral of the Assumption in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttigieg, Michael Franciscus 1793 births 1866 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Malta People from Qala, Malta Roman Catholic bishops of Gozo