Pietru Pawl Saydon

In 1919 he was also ordained as a priest, and the following year left for the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he obtained a Licence in Holy Scriptures in 1923.

[4] Saydon was appointed Professor of Holy Scripture at the University of Malta, and contributed actively to a number of international conferences and congresses.

[5] A large number of my Maltese brethren can only read in their mother tongue, and have never ever felt in their hearts the sweetness of hearing in their language the word of God, as it came from Him hundreds and thousands of years ago.

However apart from these, I kept in mind all Maltese, that they may love and cherish their language.Kotra kbira ta' ħuti l-Maltin ma jafux jaqraw ħlief bi lsienhom, u qatt u qatt ma ħassew f'qalbhom il-ħlewwa li jisimgħu fi lsienhom il-kelma t'Alla hekk kif ħarġet minn fommu mijiet u eluf ta' snin ilu.

Iżda barra minn dawn, jien ħaddant fil-ħsieb tiegħi il-Maltin kollha, li jħobbu u jgħożżu lsienhom.Although Saydon was considered the only qualified person for professorship of Holy Scripture in the University, in 1929 the Rector appointed Father Ugo Callus, a philosopher, to the post.

The vacant position was filled by Saydon, and thus at the age of 31 he was appointed Professor of Holy Scripture (in both Hebrew and Biblical Greek).

Saydon was also pipped to the post for a Lectoral Ministry in the Cathedral Chapter by Monsignor Nerik Dandria, who despite his inexperience in scripture studies, had strong political backing.

The Maltese Ecclesiastical authorities failed to recognise Saydon's merits, despite being given the title of monsignor in 1946 and being offered a position in the Cathedral.

Although never seeking fame for his endeavours, he expressed ire at not receiving due recognition - thus he wrote in Il-Malti in 1953: I never sought honours, and so if the world holds me back, I am not bothered.

Ħaġa wahda tolqotni fil-laħam il-ħaj, il-kelma tiegħi fuq ħwejjeg ta' tagħlim qatt ma kienet mismugħa... U dan għalija kien u għadu telf kbir.

He was convinced that: without the light shed by semitic languages, we would never come to know about Maltese, its roots, the life of the language and that which differentiates it from every other language.mingħajr id-dawl tal-ilsna semin (semitiċi) qatt ma jista' jkun li naslu biex nagħrfu xi ħajja dwar il-Malti, fuq in-nisel tiegħu, fuq il-ħajja tiegħu, fuq il-bixra tiegħu li tagħżlu minn kull ilsien ieħor.At the time of his personal setbacks after returning from his studies in Rome, he immersed himself into progressing the works of the University's Maltese Language Association, this having just been founded by two medic-poets, Rużar Briffa and Guze Bonnici.

This was around the time of a political debate in the country about whether Italian, English or indeed Maltese should be recognised as the national language of Malta.

In 1936, Saydon, together with Ġużè Aquilina, published Ward ta' Qari Malti an anthology of prose and poetry in Maltese.

A monument in his honour was unveiled on the hundredth anniversary of his birth, on 12 November 1995, in front of his namesake secondary school in Żurrieq.