15 Facts About Maurus Caruana

Maurus Caruana was born Luigi Carlo Giovanni Giuseppe Publio Caruana in Floriana, in what was then the Crown Colony of Malta, part of the British Empire.

Maurus Caruana was the youngest of the three sons of Enrico Caruana, assistant secretary to the Admiral Superintendent of the Malta Dockyards, and Elizabetta Bonavia.

In 1884, Caruana was received as a postulant of the monastic community, and received the monastic habit on March 21 of that year, celebrated by Benedictines as the feast day of St Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine Order, and being given at that occasion the religious name of Maurus, after one of the founder's most noted disciples.

Maurus Caruana made his temporary profession of religious vows the following year, and he made his solemn vows three years later, on 11 November 1888.

Maurus Caruana was then sent to pursue his ecclesiastical studies in Rome at San Anselmo College, an international center of studies run by the Benedictine Order.

In 1906, Maurus Caruana returned to Fort Augustus Abbey, where he was appointed choir master for the community.

Maurus Caruana engaged in a preaching ministry in various locales in Scotland and England over the next few years, including Westminster Cathedral in London, where he preached a course of Lenten sermons.

Maurus Caruana was especially welcome by the Italian immigrant community of the United Kingdom for his proficiency in their language.

In December 1914, Maurus Caruana was sent to Brazil on a preaching mission.

Maurus Caruana decided to spend time with his family back in Malta on the way.

Maurus Caruana was honored with being appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

On 29 March 1928 Monsignor Maurus Caruana was granted the personal title of archbishop by Pope Pius XI, as the Titular See of Rhodes, which the Bishops of Malta had held concurrently since 1797, had been restored as a functioning diocese.

Archbishop Maurus Caruana, broadcasting to the Maltese on December 26, [1942] exhorted them to make an all-out effort for victory [against the Axis powers].

Maurus Caruana died during World War II, after he had led the island through the Siege of Malta by the Nazi Luftwaffe.

Maurus Caruana is buried in St Gregory The Great Parish Church, Sliema, Malta.