There are a few chapels and churches around Malta which sport an intriguing Latin sign: “Non gode immunity ecclesiastica” (“Doesn’t provide ecclesiastical immunity”). I wanted to understand why a church would not be a place of refuge, and why some other churches still were sanctuaries.
Background
By 1759, the Maltese islands had gone through a golden age under the patronage of the Knights of St John. For almost 200 years no major attack had troubled the islands and the people lived a safe life. The Grand Master of the Knights at the time was Portuguese Manoel Pinto de Fonseca.
He had invested huge sums of money on the islands and people had yet to notice he had borrowed so much money he bankrupted the Order of St John. The bulk of the investment went into the main cities and the harbour area.
In other words you only benefited from this largesse if you were somehow connected to the Knights’ maritime forces. People living in the countryside were not so lucky.
On 10 February 1759 Pinto wrote to his ambassador in Rome about burglaries taking place in Malta1. Gangs of thieves attacked houses to steal whatever they could1. They terrorised people so the Knights roamed the countryside for protection1.
These thieves often admitted their crimes and fingered accomplices hiding in churches around Malta1. Pinto argued that thieves gained immunity from the law through any church1. Wouldn’t it make sense to “restrict immunity to those churches where the Holy Sacrament is kept” he asked1.
Meanwhile Pinto promised a reward of 100 scudi for any thief captured alive, and 50 scudi if dead.
Things soon became complicated.
Complications
Rome wanted to prevent problems and issued guidelines to its Bishop within a month1. It was not prepared to accept this abuse of the Church’s position1. Refugees in churches now had a time limit of 3 days to leave before they would be turned over to the authorities1.
Despite this change, the people abusing the situation took things a step further. One thief stoned a court official who went to see who was hiding in church1. In another case, a gang of thieves shot and attacked other court officials1. In yet another, a prostitute took refuge in a chapel and used it as a brothel2.
This was one insult too much for Pinto who was eager for Rome’s opinion. The Pope agreed this was an abuse of the principle of sanctuary but didn’t see the need to help out1. He let his Bishop in Malta take care of the situation instead.
The Bishop agreed with Pinto’s assessment that the sheer number of churches – and therefore sanctuaries – in such a small diocese was the problem1.
End game
On 10 January 1761, Pope Clement XIII wrote to Malta’s Bishop restricting sanctuaries to churches and chapels that kept the Holy Sacrament1. Pope Clement cited two reasons for this – the intolerable danger to public peace, and the great number of churches in Malta (327 at the time)1.
The Curia published this edict on Saturday 30 May, and explained it to their congregations the next day1.
On Monday 01 June the Church ordered carpenters to fix a notice on the main door of places that no longer were sanctuaries1. It was up to the curator of each church to make sure this was not hung upside down1.
These notices are still there today. Rather than a simple sign nailed to the church door, the message Non gode immunity ecclesiastica is now visible on a ceramic sign by the main door.
It didn’t take long before some clerics wrote to Rome asking for ’their’ church to be exempt from this edict1. The Vatican sent a new edict on 17 June 1762 restoring immunity to churches important enough to merit this1. Among these are churches in Valletta, the capital, and Balzan which is my home village1.
In total 93 chapels and churches no longer were sanctuaries1.