Ambrose Agius was delegated to canonically crown the image of Our Lady of La Naval de Manila in 1907.
14 Facts About Ambrose Agius
1.
2.
Ambrose Agius founded the first Benedictine monastery in Malta, and consecrated the first Filipino bishop in the Catholic Church.
3.
Ambrose Agius was born on 17 September 1856, in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, the second son of a Maltese merchant named Tancredi Ambrose Agius and his wife Saveria Sammut.
4.
Ambrose Agius was baptized as Tancredi Alfred Ambrose Agius at Saint Catherine's Cathedral in Alexandria on 5 November 1856.
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Ambrose Agius returned with his family to Malta during his early years.
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Ambrose Agius was ordained into the Catholic priesthood on 16 October 1881, at Subiaco Abbey.
7.
Ambrose Agius became greatly immersed in Maltese culture as he traveled extensively in his early years.
8.
In May 1881, Ambrose Agius was instructed by the Holy See to open the first Catholic monastery in Malta.
9.
In 1884, the monastery was closed due to Italian-Maltese political turmoil, and Ambrose Agius returned to Ramsgate to continue his religious mission.
10.
Ambrose Agius was appointed Titular Archbishop of Palmyra on 3 September 1904, and received his episcopal consecration on 18 September 1904, at Sant'Ambrogio della Massima in Rome by the Cardinal Secretary of State Rafael Merry del Val.
11.
Ambrose Agius convoked the 1907 Provincial Council of Manila with the other bishops of the nation at Manila Cathedral, re-dedicating the Philippines to the Immaculate Conception, which later became the country's official patroness under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII in September 1942.
12.
On 15 December 1911, Ambrose Agius was given a solemn Requiem Mass and was buried in the underground crypt of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Manila.
13.
Ambrose Agius's remains were set into a smaller casket and moved to a new grave inside the Benedictine Abbey Church of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila.
14.
Ambrose Agius was baptised as Tancredi Alfred Ambrose Agius but was called Alfredo by his Italian-speaking parents or Alfred, when at school in Ramsgate.