BISHOP GARGALLO
The Holy See established the Maltese Inquisition in 1542, just 12 years after the Knights Hospitaller arrived in Malta. For the first 32 years, the Bishop of Malta acted as the Inquisitor, judging spiritual offences. The Bishop’s seat was traditionally based in Mdina, but he also used a palace in Birgu purchased by Bishop Domenico Cubelles in 1542. Known as the Bishop’s Palace, the building housed the Curia, an ecclesiastical tribunal, and a prison next door for those awaiting trial or serving sentences.
Bishop’s Palace in Birgu
Tomás Gargallo, a fiery and argumentative Spaniard, became Bishop of Malta in 1578. His long, 36-year tenure was marked by financial struggles, cruelty, and constant clashes with the Grand Master, the Inquisitor, and the Pope, whom he dared defy.
To curb the bishops’ growing power, particularly that of Bishop Royas (1572-77), who was getting too big for his boots and interfering in the Knights’ personal affairs, Grand Master La Cassière asked the Pope to appoint a separate Inquisitor. In 1575, Mgr. Pietro Dusina became Malta’s first independent Inquisitor, replacing the Bishop in this role. This did not go down too well with Royas, but he had to suck it up.
When Royas died in 1577, La Cassière presented Gargallo, who was a member of the Order of St John, as one of thecandidates for the bishopric. Things were fine until the Pope asked Gargallo to contribute to the new Inquisitor, Federico Cefalotto’s pension, out of his own income. Bishop Gargallo refused and was suspended on the Inquisitor’s orders by the Dean of the Cathedral, Monsignor Bartoli.
Gargallo did not take this lightly. Enraged, he ordered his guards to accompany him to Mdina. Not finding Bartoli at home, he marched up to the Cathedral and physically attacked the Captain of the Holy Office, who was at that very moment reading out a public notice about his suspension, just outside on the parvis. Next, he went up to the doors of the cathedral, where the same notice the official had been reading out was stuck to the door and tore it up.
Bishop’s Palace in Mdina
The Cathedral chapter faced a tough decision but ultimately sided with the Inquisitor, who had the Pope’s backing. Furious at this betrayal, Bishop Gargallo ordered his Vicar General, Fra Michele Cimini, to act. Accompanied by armed men, Cimini stormed the cathedral during a Sunday Mass and closed the doors. The canons (priests) were seized, tied together with their liturgical vestments, and dragged 10 miles behind horses to the Bishop’s prison in Birgu.
The priests were locked in an underground dungeon for 12 days with their feet shackled. The harsh conditions caused the deaths of Vicar Capitular De Lauda and Canon Florio Galani, while the others suffered lasting illnesses. Gargallo confiscated their properties and replaced them with new clergy before fleeing the island with Cimini.
One priest, Luca Bonnici, managed to escape and reported the horrors to the Pope. Furious, the Pope excommunicated Gargallo and Cimini, summoning them to Rome. Both were imprisoned for two years for their actions. On 11 October 1584, Gargallo was suspended from Holy Orders for six months and exiled from Malta for two years. He was also fined 600 scudi to compensate the families of De Lauda and Galani. However, Gargallo still remained bishop, a post he retained until his death in 1614.
Interior of Mdina Cathedral
Jesuit’s Church in Valletta. Source: Kappa Vision
To show remorse, Gargallo built chapels dedicated to the Madonna of Monserrato in Rome and within the Church of StLawrence in Birgu upon his return to Malta. He also paid for the construction of another chapel inside the Jesuit Church in Valletta, where he was later buried. Bishop Gargollo’s temper put him seriously out of pocket. The pensions for the Inquisition continued to be paid until the Inquisition was forced to close shop in 1798.
Written with reference to:
- ‘Fra Thomas Gargallo, Bishop of Malta : a study of the Bishop’s relations with the various authorities in Malta’ by William Zammit (Bachelor’s Dissertation, 1987).
- ‘Birgu Citta Vittoriosa: four walks in a historical city’ by Anton Attard. Din l-Art Helwa and Birgu Local Council
- Watch here: https://www.tiktok.com/@darkmaltatours/video/7378814643487214880