John Matthew Rispoli
He was professor of philosopher at various institutions of high education, an able preacher, and an official at various posts within the Dominican Order, of which his was a member.
Though the fame of holiness accompanied him in his life, this did not deter the Inquisition from suspecting him of heresy, and keeping him in its dungeons for fourteen months.
[3] Thereafter, he was sent to Palermo, Sicily, to begin and complete his institutional education at the Dominican Studium Generale there in philosophy and theology.
Though he returned to Malta to commence his academic and pastoral work, he came under the eye of Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master to the Knights Hospitaller, who conceded him protection.
Most probably, this was due to Rispoli's intellectual capabilities as much as the high esteem in which the Grand Master held his father, whom, as recompense for his thirty-seven years in the service of the Knights Hospitaller, had been elected Donat and Brother in the Order.
[3] Whatever the case, the Grand Master personally recommended Rispoli to King Henry IV of France in order to ensue his theological studies at the University of Sorbonne, in Paris.
This gave the twenty-four-year-old Rispoli an opportunity to upgrade his studies at one of the then most illustrious centres of learning in the world, and show his true colours.
His outstanding intelligence and erudition can be gauged from the fact that, just over two years into his studies at the Sorbonne, in 1609, the twenty-seven-year-old Rispoli was earmarked to be appointed professor to the seat theology teaching on Lombard's Sentences .
[6] Despite this setback which could have changed his life forever, during that same year (1609) Rispoli published a book which impressed his peers and contemporaries.
It was entitled Status Controversiæ Prædefinitionum et Prædeterminationum cum Libero Arbitrio (The State of the Question dealing with the Predefinition and the Predestination of Free Will).
This conclusion clearly sides with the position of the Dominican Domingo Bañez against the Jesuit Luis Molina in the famous and very often acrimonious controversy on the intervention of divine grace in relation to free will.
[7] According to one contemporary, Rispoli's disputation, held on May 15, 1611, was attended by the whole academic world of Paris, the Apostolic Nuntio to the King of France (Roberto Ubaldini), the bishops of Montpellier and Orléans together with a great number of ecclesiastics, and of course the Capitular friars, including the Master of the Dominican Order.
Eyewitnesses attested that his words were docte et gloriose (brilliant and persuasive),[9] and that they were received cum laude (with great praise).
Only a few months after his Paris disputation, in 1612, to show his delight in championing such a first rate scholar, and in respect towards his family, for all its worth Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt appointed him his personal theologian and consultor, and made him a familiar of the Order of Knights Hospitaller.
[18] The most heart-rending upshot of the incident was that, between May 1615 and July 1616, pending the charges, Rispoli was incarcerated at one of the Inquisition's dungeons for fourteen months.
[19][17] Having overcome this harrowing ordeal, Rispoli continued to hold the Regency at the Studium Generale of Palermo for another year.
[24] Now, two years later, he sent various letters to the Master of the Dominican Order and to the Prior Provincial of Sicily most probably to scotch current rumours about some alleged shortcomings on the part of Rispoli.
[25] The Grand Master referred to Rispoli's work and personal demeanour in glowing terms, praising his erudition and exemplary life, his prudence and charity shown in his administrative role, his good sense in the works and benefices with which he endowed the priory, and his high standards of strict observance within his religious community.
He frequently had to travel by sea and land between and over Italy, France, Sicily and Malta, occupying a series of temporary abodes.
[29] During this period, precisely in 1624, he was appointed by the Master of the Order, Seraphim Secchi, as Censor for a particular case dealing with a book, entitled Vox Turturis (A Dove's Voice), by the Dominican Dominic Gravina.
[36] In May 1930, Rispoli was appointed by the Master of the Dominican Order to act as Commissioner to restore regular life at the priory at Messina, Sicily.
[39] However, he did not take up office until September, apparently because the Sicilian Prior Provincial had found some objection in the appointment[40] He stayed in office until 1936, when he returned to Malta, once more as Vicar-General of the Maltese Dominicans, and as official Visitor for the three Dominican Priories in Malta on behalf of the Sicilian Prior Provincial.
[47] Unfortunately, in general the academia ignored Rispoli, perhaps considering him just another withered mediaeval scholastic who, apart from some historical value, had no particular consequence or philosophical relevance to contemporary discussions.
Basically, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas are his main sources, and his writing style is heavily influenced by the method of composition proper to Scholasticism.
