Mikiel Fsadni (15 April 1916 – 18 April 2013) was a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

Dominican friar and historian. He is best known for the discovery of ''

Il-Kantilena ''Il-Kantilena'' is the oldest known literary text in the Maltese language. It dates from the 15th century (no later than 1485, the death of its author, and probably from the 1470s), but was not found until 1966 by historians Godfrey Wettinger an ...

'', the oldest known text in the

Maltese language Maltese (, also or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language derived from Siculo-Arabic, late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance languages, Romance Stratum (linguistics), superstrata. It is the only Semitic languages, Semitic language pred ...

, together with

Godfrey Wettinger Godfrey Wettinger (22 December 1929 – 22 May 2015) was a Maltese historian. He is known for his discovery, together with Fr. Mikiel Fsadni, of ''Il-Kantilena'', a document that is widely considered to be the oldest work of Maltese literature. ...

in 1966.

Biography

Fsadni was the son of Joseph Fsadni and Giovanna née Cassano, and he was born in

Birgu Birgu ( , ), also known by its title Città Vittoriosa ('Victorious City'), is an old Fortifications of Birgu, fortified city on the south side of the Grand Harbour in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region of Malta. The city occupies a promontory ...

on 15 April 1916. He studied at the Dockyard School, and he began his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

to join the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

at the Dominican convent in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

in 1933. He made his first

profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...

on 21 October 1934, and he studied philosophy and theology at the St Thomas Aquinas College in Rabat before being ordained a priest on 11 June 1939. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was at the Dominican convent in

when it was partially destroyed in January 1941 by aerial bombardment aimed at the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

aircraft carrier HMS ''Illustrious'' which was in the nearby harbour. Fsadni and the other Dominican friars subsequently moved to the Rabat convent and to a house in

Birkirkara Birkirkara (abbreviated as B'Kara or BKR) is a city in the Eastern Region, Malta, Eastern Region of Malta. It is the second most populous on the Malta (island), island, with 24,356 inhabitants as of 2020. The town consists of five autonomous pari ...

before returning to Birgu and staying within the

Inquisitor's Palace The Inquisitor's Palace (), also known as the Sacred Palace, is a palace in Birgu, Malta. It was the seat of the Maltese Inquisition from 1574 to 1798, under the name Palazzo del Sant'Officio ().https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/handl ...

. After the war, Fsadni was assigned to the ''Santa Marija tal-Għar'' convent in Rabat, where he remained for the rest of his life. Fsadni was also a historian and writer, and he was particularly interested in the history of the Dominicans in Malta. He published several

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

s about the Dominicans, and he also wrote about Maltese vernacular stone huts known as '' giren''. He was also interested in photography. In 1966, while doing some research about Dominican friars at the

Notarial Archives The Notarial Archives () is an archive in Valletta, Malta, that contains about 20,000 volumes of contracts, wills and other legal documents from the 15th century to the present day. Its collections are significant both from a legal and historical ...

, he and

(who was researching about

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

) discovered a 15th-century poem known as ''

'', which turned out to be the oldest known surviving text in

. Fsadni and Wettinger subsequently collaborated on studying the text, its author

Pietru Caxaro Pietru Caxaro or Caxaru (; – August 1485), also known in English as Peter Caxaro, was a Maltese philosopher and poet. He is so far Malta's first known philosopher, fragments of whose works are extant. His philosophical views and positions q ...

and its copyist Brandano Caxaro. In 1975, Fsadni was awarded the Rothmans Prize for Literature, and in 1990 his publication on ''giren'' won him a gold medal at the government's literary prizes. He also won a photography competition in 1988. He was awarded ''Ġieħ il-Birgu'' on 7 September 2000, and on 13 December 2008 he received the title of Member of the National Order of Merit. He died on 18 April 2013, three days after his 97th birthday, at the Villa Messina care home in Rabat. At the time of his death, he was the oldest member of the Dominican Order in Malta.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fsadni, Mikiel 1916 births 2013 deaths Dominican scholars Maltese Dominicans Maltese historians Maltese male writers People from Birgu Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Malta) 20th-century historians Historians of the Catholic Church Maltese non-fiction writers Male non-fiction writers