And sure enough….
Published:
July 6, 2009 at 4:05pm
I wouldn't worry about it, Pius: if that man Piano doesn't stick us on his gate, we'll ring Astrid and get her to go on Super One TV
The Times, Monday, 6th July 2009
The Valletta plans
OFMConv Fr Edmund Teuma, Valletta
I think this is the right time to ask Renzo Piano to insert the bust of our great benefactor St Pius V in his plans for City Gate. The saint’s bust had been provisionally placed in a corner of Great Siege Square some years ago by the Valletta council but it belongs to City Gate where it had always been in the past.
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He is too gentle to be anything but a gentleman. For him to have survived having been surrounded by a hostile crowd of fourth- and fifth-formers, me included, forced to study Arabic against their will, was no mean feat.
Today I rue the wasted opportunity, which shows how passion can kill opportunity. At the time, we didn’t want Arabic because the Labour government forced it down our throat.
So give the man a break, will you? He is as progressive as they come. He translated the Koran into Maltese, for God’s sake. He is a linguist of the first order, but a hopeless romantic.
All he wishes for is a teeny-weeny bust somewhere. [Daphne – I believe Astrid Vella has one. Miaow! Sorry, couldn’t resist that.] It’s better than il-massa who want everything as it is so that they can prance around in multicoloured costumes once a year in Pjazza Helsien during our exceedingly tasteless and featureless carnival, or those supposedly cultured bigots who want a replica of Barry’s opera house and nothing else.
After all, Pius V did help build Valletta. The bust is the least we owe him, because by all accounts the man was anything but saintly. But then, I’m judging someone through 21st-century eyes.
Factually incorrect, Daphne.
In 1565, after the siege, Pius IV offered financial assistance, as well as the services of Francesco Laparelli, to aid in erecting the new fortified city. His successor, Pius V, continued pouring in lots of lolly. In recognition, his coat of arms (as well as that of de Valette) was cut on a marble tablet and fixed over Porta San Giorgio in 1568.
A bust of the pope is not out of place in Great Siege Square, on the city’s main thoroughfare. It may well be out of place in the new city entrance.
Fr. Theuma suggest that the bust of St. Pius V should be placed in a prominent position in City Gate. If others suggest we have St. Paul’s, then who’s to decide? A referendum? Frankly, I’d prefer the bust of Marilyn Monroe.