GIOVANNI MATTEO RISPOLI
Today we will meet the philosopher and Dominican friar Giovanni Matteo Rispoli, born in Isla. He was born in 1582, the son of Giovanni Vincenzo and Caterina. His father was employed as a galley pilot by the Order of Saint John and enjoyed the esteem of the Grand Master Fra Aloph de Wignacourt.
At the age of 16, Giovanni entered the Dominican Order at the monastery of Birgu. He was sent to Palermo to continue his studies in philosophy and theology. He completed his studies in 1606 and on his arrival in the islands was recommended by the Grand Master himself to continue his studies at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
In 1609 he published a book entitled ‘The State of the Question dealing with the Predefinition and the Predestination of Free Will’, of which only two copies survive, one in the Dominican archives in Rabat and the other in the French National Library in Paris. This book brought him into the limelight, for during the General Chapter of the Dominicans he was asked to deliver a public disputation, a task entrusted only to the most distinguished members of the Order. He impressed the Apostolic Nuncio so much that he was given the title of Master of Sacred Theology.
From France he was sent to Sicily as regent of the Studium Generale, first to Messina and then to Palermo. There he was accused of heresy and spent fourteen months in the prison of the Inquisition, but was found not guilty and was released.
After this episode he was reinstated and entrusted with various posts of responsibility in the Maltese Islands as well as in France, Sicily and Italy. He spent his life in constant wandering. His last assignment was to preach Lent sermons in the Cathedral of Catania. During the crossing from Malta to Sicily he caught a cold, his health deteriorated, and he died in Sicily at the age of 56. He was buried in Catania in the church of the Dominicans.
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