Saviour Montebello
Saviour Montebello (1762–1809) was a Maltese Doctor of Theology, a professor of philosophy at the University of Malta, and a Parish priest of Bormla.
His godparents were Joseph Buttigieg, son of Luke, and Rose, wife of Francis Bugeja, both from the Żejtun parish.
The patrimony was temporarily entrusted to the administration of Michael Pulis,[13] the husband of Montebello's older sister, Mary.
[24] During the French presence in Malta (1798), he was chosen to be part of the committee administering one of the twelve municipalities created by Napoleon, that which included Tarxien, Żejtun, Żabbar and Għaxaq.
[27] Together with others, he contributed financially to the two-year war effort,[28] and also donated (on 24 December 1798) a considerable part of his wealth to procure wheat and other supplies from Sicily to ease the food shortage that ensued from the revolt.
[29] When the British provisionally took over the government of the Maltese islands instead of the French Republican Commission, Giuseppe was elected by the gentry at Tarxien (18 February 1799) to be head of their locality, and thus part of the National Congress created by the representative of the British provisional government, Alexander Ball.
[32] Giuseppe's house at Tarxien, built by government funds as recompense for his share in the revolt,[33] still stands unto this day, and is a tourist attraction.
In 1824 he published Chtieb il Kari Yau Dahla'al ilsien Malti (A Book of Maltese Reading or An Introduction to the Maltese Language);[43] in 1826 Trattat Fuq l'Obblighi Tal-Bniedem (A Treatise on the Duties of Man);[44] and in 1847 Rendiconto pratico del Campo Esperimentale dell'Est (A practical Statement on the Experimental Camp in the East).
The team's job was to intercept any manoeuvring by or to the French troops blockaded in Valletta through the road leading to Cottonera from the east, and to organise and manage supplies around that area.
[56] Following the French capitulation on 5 September 1800,[57] Montebello was appointed professor of the chair of philosophy at the University of Malta.
Caruana received them most kindly and, as was formerly the practice during the time of the Knights Hospitallers,[65] they all proceeded to the palace of the bishop, Vincenzo Labini,[66] in Valletta who then administered to them the oath of office.
Lectures started a week later, on 13 November, after the solemn intonation of the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus in the university church, also at Valletta.
[68] A welcome development occurred on 13 March 1802, when the British governor, Alexander Ball, re-established the practice of conferring degrees, thus giving more weight to the academic institution.
[69] This must have brought on, a few months later, on 5 May 1802, the increase in salary of the university professors, including Montebello's, from two to three hundred scudi per annum by the British Civil Commissioner, Charles Cameron.
Montebello relinquished the chair of philosophy in 1804 when he was appointed by Bishop Vincenzo Labini[72] as parish priest of Civitatis Cospiquæ (Bormla).
[74] Montebello became vicar (or Parochus prælectus)[75] of Bormla on 23 June 1804,[76] and immediately took up residence there[77] together with his sister Vincenza.
His class notes on logic and metaphysics, subjects which he taught for four years at the University of Malta, do not seem to have survived, not even in indirect form (by his students).
Having said this, however, it might not be irrelevant to point out that the hundreds of manuscripts held at the archive of the Collegiate of Bormla―one likely place where Montebello's writings might be held―are still not catalogued.
